Overture of a Massacre
by Sweet as a Unicorn
Summary: The tragic depiction of the Games through the eyes of a single tribute in the 24th Games. As she encounters the other 23 tributes, how will she react to the personalities they bring to the table? SYOC/SYOT. COMPLETE!
1. Prelude

_Prelude_

* * *

I have to wonder if 26 years ago people would think that their children and grandchildren would be participating in such a blood bath known as the Games. Even now, as I stood on one those twelve platforms, I couldn't imagine such a thing, such a "game", existed.

"Focus!" snapped the man standing in front of me.

The tall, lanky man was my mentor, Weft. Like all mentors, he was a previous victor of the Games. But truly, I don't see how he could have won. His physique couldn't even be considered a physique; he was as thin as a walking stick. I could only assume he won by hiding the entire game.

"Calico, once these platforms are raised, wait until the signal sounds and then find some place safe to hide," Weft told me.

Once these platforms rose I would be welcomed with the sight of the Cornucopia, which was commonly the cause of death of many tributes. Weft was only warning me to keep away because he assumed I couldn't survive if I went in.

I looked to my right. There was my fellow District 8 tribute being talked to by his mentor, Woof. Woof was much younger than Weft, though still had that slim appearance. Looking at Weft and Woof together would push the stereotype of our district; that there was nothing to us. But I was going to prove that wrong.

A sudden countdown rung out.

"Looks like the Games are going to start," said Weft. "Remember, just hide and survive."

Weft repeated his words of wisdom as he backed away from the platform. As the lady's voice from the speakers reached seven, the platforms slowly began to rise. I already had my plan in my head as the scene of this year's Hunger Games came into sight.

"Ready," I whispered to myself.


	2. Act 1

_Act 1_  
_'District 8'_

* * *

It was coming up upon that time of the year; the Games were coming. You could definitely tell just by merely looking around. While there was nothing obvious, like banners or people shouting about it, the general attitude of my home district changes.

Normally District 8 was very much an urban wasteland. The mixture of the smog in the environment and the smog-like personalities of the people made it a very _popular_ place. Despite this, there was still some people who would flash a smile upon walking by.

But with the Games coming up, everyone became shut-ins. If they weren't working or at school, they were avoiding all contact with others. No one seemed to want to attach themselves with another person, fearing they may lose that connection due to the games.

Walking down the street, I saw this change. It would be subtle, if anything, to anyone out of the district. The people would just come off as grumpy and plain rude. But for someone like me, who has never left the district, I could see it clear as day. I have seen it every year for 16 years now.

Now I was no exception to this either. I, myself, was walking with my head down for the most part. I avoided eye contact and nodded instead of speaking a response. Having just gotten off work, I just wanted to get home.

"Calico!"

The voice rang out down the street. I hadn't even needed to raise my head to see who was calling my name. I knew the voice all too well. The young owner of the voice appeared in front of me as if by magic, causing me to have to stop walking.

_Darn it. I was so close to home_, I thought.

The blonde girl in front of me was named Lilleth. She was only 13 years old and thus in a different grade level all together, but I knew her through work. She worked only an hour or so every other day at the factory, only so she could get some money.

She was a rather chipper girl, especially around this time. While everyone else is being doom-and-gloom, here is Lilleth still smiling. And I don't know how she could maintain it. She once told me a story, explaining how she had an accident with a loom. It had caught her hair, pulling her backwards into the machine. She came out with so many scars that it was rather saddening to think about sometimes. Still, she manages always to have a calm smile on her face.

"So, you going home?" asked Lilleth.

"Yeah," I muttered.

I try to be nice to Lilleth, but around this time of the year, I just don't want to be. It isn't Lilleth's fault. I just don't want to talk to anyone really.

"I'm on my way to work now," explained Lilleth. "I haven't been able to go recently due to some virus going around my apartment building. I feel a bit better and Dezji is letting me go, so I finally am getting back to work."

Dezji was Lilleth's brother. I have never met him; only heard about him through conversation. From what I gathered, he was a great older brother. Lilleth truly loved him and respected him and he loved her and took care of her. He even didn't want her to be working in the factory, wanting her to be safe.

I wish I had someone like him.

"Well, I better get going before I am considered late and docked pay," said Lilleth, looking at the beat-up watch on her wrist. "Bye!"

And with a wave, she left as quickly as she arrived.

_Sometimes I just don't get that girl_, I thought to myself.

All I could do was shake my head and continue home. Thankfully no one else interrupted my journey.

* * *

Having arrived at my apartment building, I was greeted by the normal unwelcoming sight.

My family and I lived in an unsettling neighborhood, which is saying something when it comes to most of District 8. Our apartment building was smack dab in the center of some shady territory. Gangs, drugs, and prostitution were a common sight around here.

I mean, sitting on the stoop when I arrived home was some members of the local gang. The Peacekeepers didn't care. As long as it didn't affect them, they had no issue with the problems. Then again, if they actually did their job, that would mean working.

"If it isn't Neil."

The gang member mocking me was one I knew by name; Pill. A 20-something year old, this man had the intelligence of a 2 year old. He didn't live in the apartment building, but was usually there; much to my misery.

I managed to walk past him and his crew, who took up most of the steps… Like the nuisances they are.

"Say hi to your mom for me," called out Pill, followed by a laugh, as I closed the main door behind me.

If I didn't know that Pill and his gang would surely hurt me, I would have punched him for that comment. But he was much stronger than me. Then again, I think he was stronger than most people in the district and probably the reason he gravitated to leading a gang.

I walked up the flights of stairs towards my apartment. As I passed by doors, I heard an array of sounds. This was the usual; everything for shouting curse words to babies crying to older siblings reading stories to their kid brothers and sisters.

I managed to get up to the third story without any hassle, much to my delight. I ended up pausing before opening the door though.

See, there was a reason why someone like Pill knew my mom and why I would hesitate on opening the front door everyday coming home from work. The reason was my mom and her… _habits_.

I took a deep breath and opened the front door. A wafting stench hit my face causing me to gag. You think I would get used to this greeting having to deal with it all the time, but it still gets to me. This sickly scent was matched with the sight of our diseased-looking place. It looked like the sight of an explosion; just the way it always had.

"I'm home!" I called out, walking into the living room.

I dropped my satchel onto the floor and plopped onto the couch. Despite being covering in dust and who knows what else, it was still much more comfy than standing on my feet.

Soon enough I heard the sound of dragging feet coming from the hall. I only needed to move my head slightly to see it was my mom.

"Your back," she said with the slight sound of dismay.

My mom, once a beautiful, modelesque woman, now stood in front of me as only a skeleton of what she once was. Her pale skin had turned a ghastly shade of yellow; like it was stained. Her figure had sunken in on itself. And though you could tell by her body, as it was hidden under her clothing, her face showed it all too well. She looked like what she was, a drug addict.

It was people like Pill, who got their money through damaging other people, who got her hooked. My mom had always been a strong, independently fierce female that I looked up to. I understand how that can sound cliché coming from me as her daughter, but that was how I saw her. She didn't need anyone's assurance and instead felt comfortable with herself. And while I didn't have the best childhood due to poverty, it was made well by her brilliant attitude.

But around three years ago, that once vivid shine she had started to dwindle. I blame Pill especially for taken advantage of my mom's sudden depression. For as she got more and more sad, the more and more morphling he sold to her. Soon she was wasting her money on drugs and as that continued she was soon forced out of work due to her addiction.

"Yes, I'm back," I said. "Did you go anywhere today?"

"No," my mom said, not looking at me.

This was a normal conversation; one with reversed roles. It was the same thing day in and day out, and to tell you the truth, rather annoying. I felt as if the adult in this situation.

"I'll make dinner," I said, standing up.

"I'm not hungry," my mom said before I got to the kitchen.

"You need to eat something," I said.

I was getting a bit snippy, as I have heard this before. She once thought if she didn't eat, she could afford more morphling. When I discovered she had actually been doing this, she was so weak she could barely stand. I didn't want that to happen again.

"I'm not hungry!" she shouted.

She was tearing up now, most likely an emotional side effect for her years of addiction. She tended to have these mood swings. Most of the time, I tried to write them off. But right now, I was angry at everything.

"I will shove the food down your throat!" I snapped back. "You are eating!"

She didn't argue, instead lowered her head as if by defeat. With that, she shuffled back to her room in the back of the apartment. I just sighed and went to the kitchen.

I truly love my mom, but at times like these, I cannot help but pity her.

* * *

**First true chapter up! Hope you guys liked it. Remember to review your opinions. This story will ****NOT**** be interactive, so no points-systems. I find that would just be too difficult to do and rather annoying. I wouldn't want to avoid the story because I was scared of the points. Anyway, reviewing though will help give motivation and tells me what is good and what could be better. Thank-you!**

**As you can see, multiple characters were in this chapter. Lilleth is the sister of Dezji (_Frank2.0_), Pill and Calico's mom (by self), and Calico (also by self). Next chapter will be about the same amount of characters, bringing in Dezji.  
**


	3. Act 2

_Act 2_  
_'The Harvesting'_

* * *

The day had finally come. Nothing could compare to the feeling one got on the day of the reaping. It was like your stomach was a heavy rock, sinking further and further into deep water. It was like the pit in your stomach was contorting. It was truly a horribly feeling.

I am 16 so I have my name in the drawing five times for that. Then there were the years I ended up having to take tesserae. It was for only three years for the both of us, but it added up. Only 12 times, but that still made a difference when not everyone in the district applies for tesserae.

I stood in my section with the rest of the girls around my age. All of were dressed in our best wear. Really, everyone was dressed to impress; to the best of their abilities that is.

Only when the Games are happening do the Peacekeepers actually do their job. None of us were about to get harassed by them because we weren't dressed nicely. For all I know, they could blame me for "disrespecting" the Capital because I am dressed in regular clothing.

Not that you could really tell. Aside from those who had enough money to afford dress clothing, most of us were just wearing homemade nice rags. Now, I am not being rude. A normal person, say from the Capital, would probably use this clothing to wipe their floors. They were rags.

Everyone piled into their spots. It was required by law to attend the reapings unless extremely sick or on your death bed. There were probably quite a few people in the district who were close to Death's door due to work, but neither my mom nor me were.

Standing on my toes, I could just see the section where the adults were being kept. I couldn't see my mom, but I could only assume she was somewhere in the back of the crowd, dazing out. She could even be shooting up for all I know.

I placed my feet back down and looked towards the stage.

It was a weird thought that the stage wasn't normally there, as it looked like it had always lived there.

_No one's talking_… I thought.

Even with people trying to avoid contact with others, there is mumbling. When pushed in to such cramped conditions like the reaping, usually there are a few people who cannot help but gossip or comfort or whatever. But strangely enough, there was none of that. You could hear adults betting from the side lines, but none from the children.

Suddenly all sounds stopped. It was a strange halt in all sound. I swear I even heard people stop breathing as to remain quite. Focusing back on the stage, I realized way. Standing there was the escort of the year.

The previous escort had died from some mysterious _illness_. That is what the Capitol had said anyway. I think he got caught smuggling, as there were rumors about that. He was only 26 anyway, so what could have been so bad that he died, but so docile that only _he_ died?

Now, replacing our old escort was a rather short and pudgy man. With him standing up there reminded me of a cow wearing a tuxedo. The tuxedo didn't even fit him, instead coming apart at the buttons. I was waiting for him to explode.

I think I heard from around his name was Gaius.

"Hello and welcome to the 24th Hunger Games!" he announced.

No one cheered. No one clapped. No one made any noise. Obviously disappointed by this, Gaius continued.

"Before we can start, let us watch our history as a nation, reminding us all why the Hunger Games is," he spoke.

Two large television screens on either side of the stage began to play the well-known video. It acted like we were to blame for someone else's mistake. I dozed off as the video continued. Everyone knew it, and trust me, everyone was tired of it; so I wasn't the only one to be fading in and out.

I came back as the video faded to black.

"And now for the lucky two to be representing District 8 in this year's Hunger Games," he said after the video finally stopped. "As how it always is, ladies first."

On the stage with him were two large clear glass bowls, or Reaping Balls; one on either side. As with every year, one contained the females' names and the other, the males'.

Gaius walked over to the left side of the stage and, almost as if parading the bowl, stood beside with his hand looming over it. He slowly reached in and took his sweet old time as he rummaged through the papers. Finally his hand stopped and he pulled out a single paper.

_Please… Please… Please… _I thought as I closed my eyes.

I couldn't even finish my own thoughts to, _Please don't let it be me._ I truly couldn't care less who it was, but it couldn't be me.

"The female tribute for District 8 is…"

He was stalling it felt like. I really just wanted him to belt it out alr-

"Calico Neil!"

… Never mind…

It took me a second to register. Soon though, I was surrounded by four Peacekeepers who "escorted" me to the stage. Once I was up there, Gaius gave me a big, fake smile.

"And the male tribute for District 8…"

He walked over to male Reaping Ball and waved his hand over it. He seemed a bit more quicker than with the female. I was still a bit dazed as he called out the guy's name.

"Dezji Warder," he called out.

_That's… Lilleth's brother…_

The thought went through my head. Distracted from my own problem of being tribute and looked at Dizji. I hadn't met him ever before, but upon looking at him, he does look like her. Despite from the length of hair, his waist-length contrasting her short bob, they looked so alike. How he held himself was different though. Unlike Lilleth's cheerful attitude that had I grown to expect, Dezji held himself with a little more anger and brashness. He didn't seem to be too happy in being drawn, though he didn't seem as scared as I felt.

"We have the two tributes!" said Gaius. "Now, shake hands."

I turned to Dezji. He scowled at me, but still extended his hand. We shook hands, though not without a bit of a silent stand-off. He gripped me hand with such harshness. He didn't look like he had any muscles, so his grip was something unexpected. I winced a bit, but quickly switched my face over to a straight-faced glare.

No one seemed to notice or they just didn't care because everyone just clapped.

"Our tributes for District 8!"

Gaius continued to repeat that same phrase over and over, trying to excite the crowd, while Dezji and I shook hands.

_If this is my competition, how will I survive?_ I thought.

* * *

**REMEMBER TO REVIEW! :)  
**

**Calico is named after a type of fabric originating from India.**

**Pill (not Phil) is named after the small ball of fibers that form cloth.**

**Gaius means 'to rejoice', which I feels fits his Capitol-esque personality.**

**And it hasn't been said yet, but Calico's mom is named Qiviut, which is musk ox wool.**


	4. Act 3

_Act 3_  
_'Departure'_

* * *

My mom did not come to see me.

After I had been harvested for the massacre, I mean, reaped for the Games, I was taken to a room aside to say goodbye to my family; my only family being my mom. The Peacekeepers said they couldn't find her. Thus either meaning she was busy shooting up and they couldn't find her because she was in some alley hiding from prying eyes. Or they had found her and felt uncomfortable/didn't want to do their jobs because she was shooting up and just thought it best to lie. Either way, I am disappointed in my mom.

Dezji had said goodbye in a separate room. I swear I could hear Lilleth screaming.

Once finished with that, we were forced onto a train and within seconds, left the district we had always called home.

* * *

Gaius, as our escort, was supposed to be telling us what to expect when I arriving in the Capitol and how to act and all that jazz. Yet instead, there he was in front of us, snoring. The poor soul had fallen asleep. His life must be so hard.

I sat by a window and watched as scenery whipped past us. Dezji sat across the aisle from me, paying attention to some randomness I had no concern for.

"You're going to get motion sickness doing that."

I turned my head to see Dezji had looked towards me when I hadn't noticed.

"I don't get motion sickness," I said.

Lie right there. I don't know if I get motion sickness. I had never been on a train prior to this, so it was a completely new experience for me.

"Look, I am just being polite to you for my sister's sake," he said with a groan. "If you weren't friends with my sister, I would probably kill you first in the arena."

"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," I said, obviously pushing sarcasm.

Dezji didn't take the joke or just didn't care for it, because he just scowled at me. I sighed at his reaction.

_No getting through him_, I thought.

I ended up matching his scowl with one of my own.

"Look, it was no insult," he said. "But the truth. You look rather sickly yourself, having barely anything to you."

My family had barely any food to ration, even with tesserae. I didn't have the best diet, but it was the best I could do. I still thought I looked better than a morphling addict.

"You probably can't even hold half the weapons and the ones you can hold, you probably won't be able to wield them properly," he continued, not holding back the criticism. "You are a perfect stereotype of District 8."

That really hit me. I thought I was better than that. I know at least my attitude is, but apparently my physique was hitting a homerun in that field.

Still, I couldn't handle such an insult. I ended up standing up and moving to the back of the car, away from him, my fellow tribute.

"Whatever," said Dezji, shrugging his shoulders as I walked away.

_So that is how people will see me_.

The thought ran through my mind. If my own district sees me as weak, which are a bunch of weaklings themselves, then everyone will. That would make me a great target early on to get rid of. I wouldn't be considered any use to anyone.

_I'll just have to play on my strengths_, I thought.

And if my strength is my physical weakness, I guess I have to deal with it.

* * *

**This was a short update. I am not normally going to do short updates. I want to normally update with 1000+ words, while this one is roughly 600 words. I just wanted to give a bit into the train ride. Next chapter should be the Capitol and the chariot ride.**

**By the way, I would like to thank all of those that submitted. I finally have a full list of characters. Thanks to all those submitters, even the ones who didn't have a character accepted. For those whose character was accepted, even if they die in the bloodbath, which ****at least**** eight of them will, they will still be shown a bit during the chariot rides and the training.  
**

**A full list can be found on the bottom of my CAST LIST section on my profile. Just search for Overture of a Massacre.**


	5. Act 4

_Act 4_  
_'Representing Your District'_

* * *

The train ride had lasted longer than I thought it would. I had thought we were going straight to the Capitol, but instead traveled to the final four districts to pick up the other tributes.

I had learned that this train was 12 cars long; one for each district. Dezji, Gaius, and mine being the eighth; corresponding to our district number.

Still, the trip took a little less than a day.

After Dezji and I had eaten breakfast, Gaius began to speak.

"I wonder, what's up with those two?" he muttered.

I raised an eyebrow to this, wondering who he could be talking about, while Dezji had no concern.

"Your mentors of course," responding Gaius to my obvious confusion.

"Our mentors?" I parroted.

"What? Are you a complete idiot?" asked Dezji with a sarcastic undertone. "Past victors from our district who are supposed to help us prepare for the game."

"Yes, but neither of them have been out of their rooms for the entire thing," Gaius added. "And we are coming up on the Capitol, too. They better shape up soon."

"The Capitol…" I whispered.

I looked out the windows. Only darkness could be seen. A little ways back the train had entered a tunnel. This tunnel was one of only a few ways to enter the city. The other few also being tunnels. They were heavily guarded. Right before we had entered, I had caught a glimpse of the entryway. The train was going really fast, but I saw those white-clad guards.

As I watched the windows across from me while I ate, I could see little flicks of gold amongst the black. Soon those flicks grew to rays and sun traveled into the window. Due to staring, I was at first blinded by the sudden light. It had looked like I wasn't the only one, because out of the corner of my eye I saw Dezji repeatedly blink as if affected by the sudden sun.

Once the effect faded out and I could see clearly once more, I was welcomed by the amazing, yet terrifying sight of the Capitol. It was like something out of a dream.

It was like clouds. Entirely pristine, the city looked to be nothing like any of the districts. Compared to the cities in District 8, the Capitol was on an entirely different level. It was peaceful, as if its residents didn't have any worries in the world other than what colour they were going to base their appearances of next and who would be the most interesting tribute to cheer for. While everyone in District 8 was busy working or well, no really just working, the Capitol was busy with mundane daily tasks that no one I knew would ever get a chance to do. You could defiantly tell the Capitol was high above, pushing the districts down as to stay up there.

"Looks like we are here."

The voice came from the way to the bedrooms. The owner was someone I didn't know. A tall man stood there; nothing much to him. His skin was as pale as his blonde-white hair that hug in a shaggy mess to his ears. His face had caved in on itself. It was not the usual cave in from drugs, which I had come to recognize, but from another all too familiar cause, hunger.

"Look who has finally come out," said Gaius. "This is one of your two mentors, Weft."

Weft, a name definitely defining him from our district. Yet it was a surprise to figure he was a victor. He didn't look as if he could take on anyone.

"Looks like you got a shot after all," whispered Dezji.

I could only shoot him a glare.

As we began to slow down, I began to hear cheering. It soon became obvious it was coming from the terminal. When we looked outside the windows once more, both Dezji and I saw people of the Capitol cheering. It was literally a mass of rainbow wearing animals.

"Looks like we are here," said Gaius. He turned to Weft. "Go get Woof and meet up with us after the parade."

Weft nodded and quickly left.

"Parade?" I asked.

"Okay, now I swear you are just asking questions to ask questions," said Dezji.

But he didn't bother explaining it to me. I don't know if it was because he didn't want to or because he didn't know either but would sound stupid for admitting.

"The Tribute Parade, or really a chariot ride, is used to introduce you as tributes and to the sponsors," explained Gaius. "And trust me, we want the sponsors on our side for the Games."

* * *

Upon exiting the train and dealing with the mob, we made our way by car to a large building. Inside, each of the tributes, including myself, were taken to a small area to be cleaned off.

It was actually a very annoying, impersonal experience. A bunch of highlighters spraying me with water and scrubbing me down; they acted as if I had never had a bath in my life. Granted, they weren't as common like if I would have been in the upper districts, but I had them. They even had thrown hot wax onto my arms and legs, ripping out all the fine, little hairs I had. I thought my skin was going to come out.

Apparently they didn't do this just to females either, because I heard Dezji scream in pain.

"Do that again, I dare you," I heard him on the other side of the curtain.

"We have to finish up or it will look stupid with a small patch done," said a voice of one of the workers.

I sort of pitied the highlighters working on Dezji. He was scaring enough when just being himself.

When that was finished, we were ushered to dressing rooms to get us into costumes.

I had always zoned out during the chariot rides and all that jazz, so I truly didn't know what to expect.

I was pulled and pushed around as people measured me, pulled things over my head, and held stuff up to me. My stylist, a female named Iridis, just watched as this carried on, all the time appearing to be thinking about something. Finally, she stopped everyone and spoke.

"Okay, so after looking at you and the guy, I think that the outfits will truly suit you," she said.

_Could she be anymore ominous?_ I thought.

I was handing a dress made up of white, silver, and black patches, giving it a slightly ombre effect. I couldn't tell much from just holding it, but upon putting it on, I could tell I was going to hate it.

The top was an empire-style in plain ghost white. Attached to it were trumpet sleeves that ended just below my hands. The skirt was the patches, falling down to the ground. I felt like a creepy old doll.

With this dress, my red hair was put up in a messy bun and hidden underneath a grey detached-hood trimmed in white lace. A few locks fell out in front of my face, but were quickly brushed aside.

"Perfect," said Iridis, proud with herself. "It is so cute, you are bound to make an impact with such an outfit."

I highly doubted that, but I wasn't about to argue with her. Her cheerfulness reminded me of Lilleth's and it made me sort of reminiscent.

"I don't like it."

Dezji had walked in wearing his costume. He was wearing a white poet shirt tucked into ombre patchwork pants matching the skirt of my dress. He wore black boots and a hood similar to mine; minus the lace, but instead trimmed in basic white.

"Why is it so bleak?" asked Dezji. "I know District 8 is considerable bleak, but shouldn't we be a bit more colourful if we want to get sponsors?"

Dezji had a point. We both looked at Iridis.

"Everyone is going to go for a sparkly, colourful crap-filled costume," she explained. "Most will look like someone just threw stuff together, added some glitter, and called it done. But I wanted to do something different. I think this looks much more intricate than a basic colourful patchwork clothing District 8 is used to."

I can admit that the outfits were well done, even if not my taste. I could see how too many colours could distract from that.

"Okay, we should get you ready," said Iridis.

We once again were ushered around, soon to be placed on a golden chariot based each other.

It was minutes before the parade and I was looking around as everyone got to their places. Walking past us towards the front was two of the most feared districts; one and two. Both being career districts, everyone knew they were to be feared in the games. They were trained, always got sponsors, and tended to win.

The first district's tributes were dressed up in pink sheer clothing with every bit of them being seen. Clusters of jewels were placed in designs right in front of private areas, so that they weren't showing off too much. Their clothing was defiantly flashy, which seemed to be an obvious fit coming from the flashiest, richest district.

District Two's tributes were dressed head to toe in gold, appearing as if to be warriors. It was a rather intimidating outfit, like they were ready to take out anyone right then and there.

I was staring at them as they passed and ended up catching the eyes of the District 2 male. His golden eyes seemed to narrow as the met mine. He was creepy, just glaring at me. It wasn't like the same glare that Dezji gives me, but one of complete intimidation. A smirk crept across his face, as if knowing I was clearing intimidated. But just as quickly as it appeared, his smirk disappeared and he quickly turned away.

I looked over to see Dezji beside me glaring straight back at the guy, giving him the same stare the boy gave me.

"Whatever," said Dezji, rolling his eyes at the boy. "If he is just going to be scared off with a glare, he shouldn't be dishing them out himself."

I gave him a silent, sincere thanks for helping me out.

Once everyone was in their spots, the television monitors hanging from the ceiling above us flickered from their black, dormant stage to on. On the screen were two men, one with bright orange hair and the other purple.

"Welcome to the 24th Annual Tribute Parade," greeted the purple-haired man. "I am Lucida and am here with Laetus."

Lucida gestured to the man with the bright orange hair.

Both men resembled the Capitol perfectly. Everything was fake about them; from their hair to their noses to their enthusiasm.

"We are here to introduce this year's tributes," said Laetus. "Which is incredibly important as it also introduces the tributes not only to us, but the sponsors."

There is that word again, _sponsors_. I am growing to hate how it sounds.

In the bottom right corner of all the screens was a count down. 10… 9…

"We're about to go," whispered Dezji. "Try not to embarrass our district."

I bit my lip, trying to hold back snapping remarks. It didn't help though.

"I could say the same to you too," I said, continuously looking forward.

Dezji gave a half-hearted smirk.

"Lilleth likes you, I can somewhat see why," said Dezji.

Before I comment back on his actual compliment, the first one I heard him mutter, the countdown hit zero and the chariots began to move.

The crowd of Capitol spectators cheered wildly as the parade began. They howled like animals, as if watching us like we were food. In a sense, we were being paraded like food for the sponsors.

"First up and gathering the most attention is District One with their shear clothing," Lucida announced.

_Figures_, I thought as our chariot finally came out from the tunnel.

"The parade is the best way to also introduce what the districts are best known for," said Laetus.

"Oh, yes," added Lucida. "Like District Four with their fishing net-themed clothing…"

I looked up at the screens decorating the sides of the parade, which were used so spectators could get a better look. District Four had two very attractive tributes featured on the screen. The male's tan skin seeming to glow against the netting and navy blue fabric. The female's feminine physique shining through her navy blue mermaid dress with a cut out midriff and netting overlay.

The fourth district was another career district, so it figures that the tributes would be so in-shape.

"… And District Seven, as trees as usual," continued Lucida.

The screens displayed two bark clad teenagers. They contrasted in physical appearances; the girl short, the boy tall, the girl thin, the boy built. Still their outfits pretty much matched. Bark covering most of their body to make it seem like a tree, with moss and leave placed up the legs and at the arms, along with on their heads as headdresses.

"… And it looks like District Eight is going a different way this year," said Lucida.

"Yes, deviating from their normal colourful patchwork clothing, District Eight seems to have toned it down with a simple grey-theme," explained Laetus.

Dezji was waving slightly as the cameras zoomed to us. I felt slightly uncomfortable with all these eyes on me.

"Wave," muttered Dezji.

I couldn't quite get what he was saying over the crowd.

"Wave," he repeated, this time a bit louder. "You want sponsors, don't you?"

I realized what he was getting at and began to wave at the crowd. All of them were screaming passionately. Not entirely sure if they were screaming at us or other tributes, but I would take it as to us. It made me feel a little more important if I believe it was to us.

Soon the parade came to an end and we were escorted off the chariots and to our groups. Waiting for us was Iridis, Gaius, Weft, and another man I hadn't met.

"Not as sexy as District One or Four and not as strong as District Two, but I think we did secure some sponsors with our simplicity," said Gaius. "Now we just have to get through training and the interviews."

Dezji and I nodded.

The group began to walk back to where we will be staying. As we walked, I noticed the District Two female was looking this way. More specifically, she was looking at Dezji. When she had noticed me looking, she sneered and looked away.

_What was that about?_ I wondered.

* * *

**So yeah, Dezji is not a douche, but being like every big brother, teasing and torturing the crap out of everyone he cares about. I don't think he holds much feelings for Calico other than a sense of friendship through Lilleth.**

**Let me say this now, do not expect any KatnissxPeeta-type relationships here. I feel like that would be a one-time deal. And as this is the 24****th**** Hunger Games, I feel like if it happened now, they would have been prepared for Katniss and Peeta; which they were not.**

**I had a short chapter last time, so I hope this 2000+ word chapter makes up for it. To tell you the truth, I didn't think I could get past 1000 words with this one, but as I was writing, it just easily passed 2000. It is like close to 2500 words and it makes me happy. I felt like I was letting you guys down with the last chapter and wanted to update with a longer one.**

**Next chapter will be the beginning of training. I plan on having two training chapters and then a private training session/training scores chapter. Games should start around Chapter 10; maybe a little later, but no later than Chapter 12.**

**P.S. I am going based on the books with having District Four as a career district.**


	6. Act 5

_Act 5_  
_'Training Center'_

* * *

The training center is where we would be staying for the next few days. The top 12 floors were assigned to each district's tributes for them to live. The basement floor though was assigned to be where we trained for the Games. It was there that we truly started to feel like tributes.

"Here you will train for the Games," spoke one of the trainers. "There are the obligatory stations, but the rest are just as important."

We are told about how most of us will die. The idea of talking about my death made me freak out. I think I zoned out about around when we started talking about the percentages of us dying from natural causes.

I looked around at the other tributes. Dezji stood there, listening, though not happy about it. The tributes from One, Two, and Four were ready to get started.

To my other side stood a girl from District 11, one who had to be 12. She was so short, there was no doubt of her age. I had to wonder how someone her size could even think about competing. Looking at her, she appeared to be thinking the same. She was obviously nervous, biting her lip to stop from crying.

"Now I suggest you choose your stations over the next three days carefully," said the trainer. "I will leave you to your training."

We were dismissed.

I watched as everyone went to a station. The Careers had been eyeing the weapons stations. Dezji had gone to the camouflage station. Where I was going to start, I truly hadn't thought about that. There wasn't really anyone at the tree-climbing station from what I could see, so I went there.

There actually was one person there; the girl I had seen from earlier. She was already at the top of the fake tree. She seemed very adept at climbing, something I had no experience in.

"You need to find footing and handholds," instructed the trainer. "Take your time at first so you can get an idea at what you're looking for."

He gestured me towards another fake tree and I tried my hand at it. It was actually a lot harder than I thought. I ended up falling a lot of times, not even making it two feet off the ground.

"You really suck at this, don't you?" asked the girl, still in the tree.

Apparently during this entire time she had been watching me.

_She's mean for her age,_ I thought.

I didn't want to make any enemies before the Games even started. I think I already did with District Two for some reason, but I don't want to make any more by getting caught fighting with a 12 year-old kid. So I ended up having to walk away.

_I hope there are no trees in the arena this year_, I thought to myself. _Because if so, I am screwed._

There were many other stations to go to other than tree-climbing, but most of them were crowded. I didn't want to embarrass myself any further.

Dezji's station, camouflage, had another kid there. The kid was 12 years old and already excelling at it.

_What's up with the younger kids being freaking experts?_

I didn't want to get shown up by a kid again, especially seeing how the Gamemakers are probably watching us.

I walked over to knot tying station. I knew I could do that, so I hoped that maybe excelling at something would bring back some of my confidence.

At the station was another girl. She was the girl from District Four. I remembered her from the parade. She was gorgeous in her outfit, which not many people could have pulled off, but she somehow did. Even in her training outfit, she had looks. Tan skin, loose wavy hair, a thin, curvy figure… I felt a bit envious comparing our two appearances.

She was busy doing arbor knot when I walked up. It was a type of fishing knot, which makes sense since she is from Four. I knew its name, but that was about it. I mostly knew knots that could used in an urban setting. I end up starting one of the knots, a bowline. It was pretty easy.

The girl from Four looked over as I was doing it.

"That's a good knot," she simply said before walking away.

That little compliment actually made me somewhat good. I know we would be enemies in a couple of days, but still it was nice for right now.

I stayed at the knot tying station for a little bit longer before I went over to the Gauntlet with a few others. It was a required station, so I was bound to go there any way. I ended up standing behind a younger boy from District 11 and in front of Dezji.

"I see you were having issues with the kid from 11," whispered Dezji.

I just rolled my eyes. Thinking about her attitude made me quite upset. I didn't care to think too much into it for that reason.

"I think her name is Nova," he continued. "Careful of her. She may be small, but she is harsh. She probably won't get very far, but she is bound to cause some injuries before she falls. Standing in front of you is her district partner. I believe his name is Gavin."

Unlike the girl, Nova, Gavin had seemed like her was taught manners. I had seen him being respectful towards all the rest of the tributes, even the Careers who weren't very polite to him. He acted how I thought a kid should… Not like a brat.

"Also, I saw you talking to the District Four girl," said Dezji.

"Why are you watching me?" I asked.

"I'm watching everyone," he answered. "This is when you learn the most about people. They aren't in front of the cameras and don't have all the eyes on them. They aren't thinking about how they are going to look for the sponsors. So of course I am watching them to see who I can trust. And that District Four girl is probably not someone you want to trust."

I kept looking forward as Dezji talked. At the front of the line was the District Four girl with her district partner.

"I was talking with Douglas, the District Seven guy, and he says her name is Delphine. Apparently she has a reputation," he explained. "She gets people to like her with either her looks or small compliments, something that makes the other person receiving it feel good and like her a bit more. Once they are in her pocket, she betrays them."

"First off, I am in no one's pocket," I said, slightly irritated at the thought. "And secondly, how does he know this?"

"Her district partner, the guy in front of her, told him," he said. "The guy's name is apparently Coriander… Strange name is you ask me, but apparently he is reliable, at least on this. He told Douglas that Delphine liked to ruin people that way."

I thought about how Delphine acted. Sure, she probably wasn't the most reliable person and in the arena, I would probably stay away from her. I only took the compliment because I felt discouraged after Nova started talking. Still, I don't know if I would believe the guy, Coriander, either. He is spreading information, rumors, about someone from his district. I don't know how reliable that is either.

Looking at Coriander, who was second in line behind Delphine, as he laughed with her and the other Careers near them made me slightly weary of him for some reason. He seemed like a chill guy at first look, but something about him that made me feel uncomfortable. Not only because it felt like he had betrayed Delphine by talking about her behind her back, but something else. There was something deeper there that I couldn't place.

"Oh, Douglas also told me about the District Two guy. You know, the one glaring at you," Dezji said.

"Oh yeah, him…"

I had almost forgotten about him.

"Well, apparently his name is Marcello," he continued. "I was watching him with the swords. He is decent. You can defiantly tell he is a career. But apparently his personality doesn't match. Douglas has been keeping an eye on all of the Careers, because everyone is weary of them. Marcello likes to talk the talk, but cannot always walk the walk. You should be careful if he has a weapon, but if he doesn't, he probably is nothing but a yapping dog."

I snickered at the thought. For some reason, I imagined his brunette head on the body of a shivering lap dog as he bounced up and down while barking.

"The one you want to be careful around is his district partner, the girl named Helena."

"Helena?" I mimicked.

"The girl behind the two District One tributes…"

There was the brunette girl standing behind the two blondes. Her dark hair was pulled up on one side into a simple braid, though the rest of her hair was a mess. Her black eyes seemed to unintentionally burn into anyone she looked at, even when she was showing happiness and laughing. Everything about this tall, fit girl screamed warrior, but that seemed a pretty obvious trait coming from someone from District Two.

"She's mean; simple as that. She was dealing with the axes with the District One guy and Douglas, and it was apparently an intimidating sight."

_Figures_, I thought. _Of course someone is going to be so scary in these Games; the Games I am participating in. Fate couldn't have made this easy for me_.

"Despite being from District Two, she seemed pretty skilled with an axe. Douglas thinks that she is probably skilled with other weapons too, judging by her dexterity and strength."

Every time Dezji said Douglas' name, I wondered something.

"What about this Douglas guy?" I asked.

"Take a look behind me," said Dezji.

Taking a quick look behind Dezji, I noticed tall boy a few people behind him. He was a generally laid-back looking guy, even more so than even Coriander's first impression. Douglas looked to be genuine about his personality, like someone you could truly trust. He was openly talking with the people around him. Despite one girl feeling uncomfortable talking with him, he continued to smile and chat away. It was like he was trying to brush away her uncomfortableness.

"After talking with him, I can, without lying, say his appearances match his personality. He looks laid-back and pretty much is."

My eyes stopped on the left side of his forehead where two scars were.

"Yeah, don't ask about them," said Dezji, as if knowing what I was looking at. "He gets defensive when I asked. Really, really defensive. If I hadn't seen the nicer side of him before, I might have actually bitten his head off."

I don't know what was with me today, but my imagination was running wild. I just imagined Dezji's mouth growing and consuming Douglas' head in one gulp. I think someone must have slipped me some morphling when I was sleeping.

"You are awfully friendly today," I told Dezji, trying to get my mind off of the scene I imagined.

"I only talked to Douglas and that was because he approached me," said Dezji with a shrug. "I am not going to be everyone's friend or anything."

"Last question. Why are you telling me all this?" I asked.

"I thought it would be helpful, but if you don't want to know this," said Dezji. "Just don't come crying to me when you are mortally wounded because you didn't want my information."

I chuckled.

"Fine, I'll take it," I said. "Thanks."

I turned back around, slightly smiling.

_I think I made my first ally._

* * *

**I was determined to write the training scenes, even though I particularly had trouble writing them. This chapter seemed strictly interaction. I am hoping for more action next chapter. I introduced interactions between Calico and Nova, plus Calico and Delphine at least. I also introduced interactions between Douglas and Dezji, even if it was off screen. More characters to come.**


	7. Act 6

_Act 6_  
_'The Gauntlet'_

* * *

First up on the obstacle course was the District One male. I heard the District One girl call him Paris.

He looked like a typical person from One, at least from what I have seen in ads and such. Platinum blonde hair nicely styled. With no split-ends or unevenness, you could tell he took care of his hair. With his soft face and matching soft blue eyes, he looked like a model, not a warrior. He probably wasn't going to win, but I still wouldn't get in his way. He was from a career district and who knows what was behind that baby face of his.

Paris jumped from log to log; actually preforming quite nimbly.

From what I heard, the Gauntlet changed every few years. I heard that a couple years back it looked like an elevated jungle gym. Now that may seem fun, but I don't think anything the Games produces would ever be "fun". While this year, this year it had a slight nature/natural theme. I heard the District 12 tributes call it something like Par-or or Payor… No, they called it Parkour.

Anyway, the Gauntlet consisted of four major parts. The first were some uneven logs. As it sounds, it was a handful of logs standing up flat. The goal was to jump from one to another to make it across the gap. Thing is they were spaced pretty far apart and were also uneven, so that added to the challenge.

The second part was monkey bars. That was simple enough, but it was just making you feel better before you hit the third challenge. The third part was a rope ladder. Problem with it was that if you did not balance properly, you would defiantly fall. The Fourth and final part was a rock wall climb down to the finish line.

The point of the Gauntlet was to get through it the fastest you possibly could. And Paris was doing pretty well. He had come to the ladder part and seemed to falter at first.

"Hurry up, Paris!" The First District girl shouted.

He nodded and quickly climbed on the rope ladder. It swung a little bit when he got on it, but it steadied itself out when he finally got fully on. But after just a few seconds on it, he swung completely over and fell to the ground.

I cringed as I witnessed him fall onto his shin. It looked rather painful.

A few of the trainers came to his aid and helped him out of the way. The floor of the Gauntlet were padded, but it still had to hurt falling onto your bones.

Next up was the girl from District One. She didn't get much further than Paris. She just didn't get hurt like Paris; I don't know if I should have thought that good or bad.

Who I wanted to see was Helena. She sounded like someone to fear just by description, so I wanted to see her in action.

She lined herself up at the starting line, readying herself for what seemed like anything. When the trainer said so, she took off, leaping from log to log. She looked so determined. I swear I could her almost snarling at the course.

Once past the monkey bars, she balanced herself on the end of the rope ladder. Using her knees to help balance herself out, she climbed the ladder steadily.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I felt uneasy at her athleticism.

She hoped off of the rock wall and finished with one of the best times the trainers had ever heard of. And it was obvious too, just by the looks of their face.

"She's going to be hard to beat in the arena," whispered Dezji.

I nodded in response.

_She had to have a weakness, though._

Helena didn't even pause after finishing and went to the sword training station. After her went some girl from District Five. Dezji said Douglas called her Seraphim or Seraphina or something weird like that. She wasn't very good and fell of the logs before even making it to the monkey bars. After she got up and brushed herself off, the young girl from District 11 was up next; Nova. This may sound horrible, but I did not want her to do well.

Once on the starting line, the little girl lined up her tiny frame, ready for the signal.

"Go!" said the trainer, and so Nova did.

She was quicker than I expected, but I should have figured someone so small would be good at running away. She hopped from log to log, taking a little bit of time at each to gather her breath. She seemed to exert a lot of energy keeping up the appearance she knew what she was doing. Still she finished the logs rather quickly; enough to compete with Paris and Aur on that part.

Once at the monkey bars, as I slightly expected, she breezed past it. She was a good climber. One could tell just by how she held herself when sitting in the tree. One word to describe her was confident. So the monkey bars were nothing for her. But as she got to the rope ladder, that harsh expression housed on her small face faltered.

_She can't do this_, I thought.

She shook off the feeling and tried to mimic Helena's positioning on the rope ladder as she began to climb. I stood there as I began to watch the ladder swing side to side.

_She kind of deserves this,_ I thought. But I quickly felt bad for thinking such things about a 12 year-old.

"Ah!" Nova screamed as the rope ladder suddenly and ferociously spun.

I swear I counted it flipping over like six times.

Nova plummeted to the floor, landing with a heavy thump. A few trainers rushed over to her side to make sure she was alright. Before they could even mutter a word, she hopped up and brushed them away.

"I'm fine," she muttered.

She continued to walk away, but I insist I saw her walk with a slight limb in her right leg.

"That's two that been hurt," I whispered to myself. "I don't think I want to make it to the rope ladder."

"You think the Gamemakers would have made sure the training was safe," whispered Dezji. "They are risking the lives of the tributes before they even enter the arena. That isn't very smart."

I gave a swift nod, totally agreeing with Dezji there. I have to wonder what the Gamemakers were thinking, if anything.

After Nova's fall, people were cycled through, but none of them made it to the rope ladder. I have to think they were trying to avoid it after what happened to Paris and Nova. Not that I can blame them, as I had previously just admitted wanting to avoid it to.

It wasn't long before Gavin was up next. The poor boy looked beyond scared; actually shaking. He had probably never thought he would ever be in the Hunger Games.

He stood at the starting line; just standing there. When put up against Nova and Helena, he didn't look like he belonged. And when instructed to go, he stumbled about.

"Poor kid is letting his nerves get ahold of him," I said.

He slowly hopped from one log to the next, taking considerable time as if to make sure he didn't fall. He managed to clear that stage surprisingly. The way he acted, I half expected him to fail. And once at the monkey bars, he once again went slowly. Still he managed to pass it. Next up was the rope ladder.

"I'm surprised he hasn't failed on purpose so he wouldn't have to deal with the rope ladder," I muttered.

The kid positioned himself on the ladder and went slowly. He remained on his knees, using his position to help balance his weight. It took a while, but the kid cleared the rope ladder.

"What?!" I almost shouted.

I wasn't alone either. The rest of the tributes watching were either speechless or gasping like myself. Gavin climbed down the wall and became the second tribute to finish, much to everyone's astonishment and disbelief. I continued to gawk as the trainer seemed to come to his senses and called me up. I shook my head to shake any thoughts from my head. It would be best to keep my mind blank or I would risk distracting myself.

I readied myself at the starting line. I knew I wouldn't get as far as Helena or Gavin, but I was planning to do what I could.

The trainer signaled me to start and I rush to the logs. It was harder than it looked. I felt like I was going to fall at any second. Only thing keeping me from falling was me holding my breath. I know they say you should breath regularly, but breathing was throwing me completely off. Besides, I managed to get passed those pesky logs.

Next up was the monkey bars. Now I had no confidence in my upper-body strength, and neither did Dezji. I could see him in the corner of my eye, stretching and getting ready to go next; as if he knew I was going to fail soon enough.

I let out a large sigh before gripping onto the warm, tough metal. I could feel it scrapping away at my skin as my hands began to slide. I tried to rush through it as I could feel myself losing grip, but I just couldn't manage it. I fell straight on my bum.

"Ouch!" I said as I go up, brushing off my bruised backside.

I was escorted out of the way so Dezji, who was already ready, could begin.

_At least I didn't have to deal with the rope ladder_, I thought. _Now Dezji was acting all strong, let's see if he will get any further than me._

Instructed to go, Dezji rushed through the logs. His footing was rather graceful, as if he had practiced running in such conditions. I wouldn't put it passed someone in District Eight having such experience. I personally never needing the knowledge, but there are a lot of places in District Eight that you would need to know how to get away fast and the escape route wasn't always a straight line.

_I have to wonder if Dezji has ever had to do that?_ I thought to myself. _Run away…_

He easily made it to the monkey bars, not even out of breath. I envied his skill. Even if he was from District Eight, which is known for their lack of muscles, he at least has the stamina.

Dezji wrapped his hands around the first bar and began to swing from one to the next. I easily recognized Dezji's plan though, as he rapidly moved from bar to bar. I had tried doing it due to my hands sliding and it appeared Dezji was having the exact same issues I was having as his face told it all. Much to my expectations, he fell a little further from where I did.

"Shit," he cursed as he hit the floor.

He continued to mutter as he shuffled to the edible insects station. I continued my training as well. Because Nova had moved on to a more "interesting" station, the knife station, I went back to the tree climbing station. I could only hope that without the judgmental eyes of the pre-teen, I could actually gain some knowledge on the skill.

And with that the first day of training ended, having given us many lively events and much surprises. I could only hope that the next day would be a little more mundane so I could focus on my training and further my chances of survival for the upcoming games.

* * *

**So next chapter will be the scoring and Calico's private training session. It will not be so long, at least from what I can guess. I have not written it, so I don't know. But I do not expect anything too long. After that will be the interviews, which will be long as I will show [short] interviews for everyone.  
**

**I have a poll up on my profile for which story I should write next. After this story is finished, which I predict ending sometime in January, I will be beginning a new one. There are three choices; another Hunger Games, a Walking Dead, or a Game of Thrones story.**

**The Hunger Games story would be based around the 50****th**** Hunger Games. The Walking Dead story would feature mostly OC's in Florida. And the Game of Thrones story would focus around OC's in the region, the Reach, during the cannon storyline (some things will change, obviously, as the story goes on).**

**Remember to vote, review, fav, and follow. :)**


	8. Act 7

**Happy New Year! I bring you the next chapter of Overture of a Massacre, along with a new story, **_**Lovely Island Flowers**_**.**

**Remember to vote in the poll on my profile before this story ends. There are 17 more chapters after this one, but trust me they will fly by in no time.  
**

* * *

_Act 7_  
_'Those Judgmental Prickles'_

* * *

The days of training had quickly come and gone. After the first day, everyone seemed to focus on their favourite station. Having done the required ones on the first day had given us the luxury to center our attention into our favouritism.

I had moved on from the knot tying and climbing stations, having experienced them enough. Besides Delphine was always at either the knot tying station or the trident station and after my discussion with Dezji, I didn't know if I really wanted her around me. I didn't need my enemy to size me up while standing right beside me.

Then there was Nova who was rotating between the climbing and knife stations. Now I could take on the drug-dealing, gang leader, Pill, and stare down his biggest grunt without giving even the slightest fear away. But that girl! It wasn't like I was scared of her she just irritated me so much. I am probably focusing too much on this girl, but she just got to me. Little kids are supposed to be sweet and gentle; like Lilleth or Gavin.

Speaking of which, Gavin had seemed to gather some unwanted attention from finishing the course. When I had continued on with my training after the Gauntlet, I had stolen glances toward the area. No one else seemed to be able to do what Helen or Gavin could accomplish. So it seemed only natural people would feel a little bit of resentment towards the two of them. I know I felt a bit jealous they could finish and I couldn't even get passed the monkey bars. Still, some of them went as far as to make Gavin feel uncomfortable. Douglas, Dezji's source, even tried to back up the poor kid, trying to keep both sides calm and safe. But that calm quickly dispersed when Douglas threw a punch at Paris when Paris made a comment on Douglas' scars. The Peacekeepers had to quickly pull them apart. By the time Douglas was off of Paris, Paris' lip was already split and he had a bruise under his eye.

"You're first!" Paris had threatened.

It really didn't seem likely in my opinion. Paris was pretty frail compared to the buff Douglas. Douglas was from District Seven after all, in which lumber was their main export. They had to get that lumbar somehow, which explained their strong appearances. Even the female tribute from District Seven, a girl named Amira, had muscles. So unless Paris got help from one of his Career friends, it seemed unlikely Douglas was going to get hurt any time soon.

As for training, I had focused the second days on sling shots. Like many of the other tributes, I had assumed that sling shots were pretty useless. But it was the only weapon station unused, so I took it. I didn't need to make any more enemies after all. Strangely enough, sling shots were a lot stronger than I had originally thought. With the help of Mola, the trainer at the sling shots, I had actually grown slightly good at them. They didn't require much strength, which was actually kind of nice. I knew I didn't have a chance with swords or axes, as it requires strength to just lift them, and spears required strength to strike. Sling shots were nice.

A couple of time a few of the other tributes would come over and check out the sling shots. I tended to back away, so I wouldn't make a show of myself. Still, they didn't last for long, as they either quickly bore themselves or got distracted with another station.

By the end of the three days, I had grown adept with a sling shot. The best thing about that was, in the arena I was always with ammo, even if it was a simple rock.

The fourth day came and all the tributes were lined up in a small, plain room. It was time to receive our scores. The scoring was held after training during a private station. The Gamemakers would watch us at any of the stations and rate our performances. The scores would then be televised across Panem that night. Usually the sessions took 15 minutes at max, though that was at max. Some people's sessions didn't even last that; usually a sign that the Gamemakers were not impressed.

District One was up first, meaning it was Paris' turn. He had make-up to cover up the bruise under his eye and his split lip had looked a bit better. I guess they didn't want him to receive a lower score because of his bad appearance.

_Only a Career would think that_, I thought, scoffing silently to myself.

He had a long session, as did Aur, the District One girl. The District Two tributes also had long sessions, all lasting 15 minutes. I could only assume what they did based on the stations they focused on. Paris had focused on knives during training, while Aur focused on archery. Helena was quite strong and fierce, so she probably used that as advantage while showing off her handiness with a sword. Marcello also was practicing with swords during training, so he probably followed suite of Helena and showed off with a sword. Not that the Gamemakers were probably complaining. Even if they did the same thing, both of the District Two tributes were strong and probably gave off a good, entertaining show.

One by one, tributes were escorted into the private area by Peacekeepers. A few were shorter, like the District Five tributes or the District Six guy. It felt like it was my turn in no time.

After Dezji went, I was escorted into the room where a parade of colour sat in a lavish area. Expensive food was everywhere along with chalices holding what I could assume was alcohol.

I took a deep breath and walked over to the sling shot area. A couple of the Gamemakers watched me, but the rest continued to talk amongst themselves. They probably had enough excitement with the Career that most of them were already tired of watching.

_Just don't have a short session_, I thought. _I do not want to be considered weak by these twigs._

It would be a defiant insult if I was giving a low score, and thus considered weak, by people who looked like they couldn't even hold a leaf above their heads.

"Begin," one said.

I held the sling shot up and took aim at the targets. Admittedly, this was harder than the original training. The targets were moving now. It isn't like I was expecting to get stationary targets in the arena, but this was a bit overwhelming. I tried to keep my heartbeat down and steady my hand. Out of the original 20 targets moving at random speeds, I managed to hit a good 15/16 of them.

I was actually proud of myself. I could have gone with knot tying, which I would have been alright at, but I decided to do something I had only just been introduced to. And I managed to do a decent job of it.

My session had lasted a good nine to ten minutes, most of which was me shooting targets. It seemed like the Gamemakers that actually gave energy to watch me at least slightly enjoyed the sight.

I walked out, finally able to breath. I had felt like I was holding my breath the entire time. I ended up meeting Weft outside the waiting room.

"You're sweating… Was it that difficult?" he asked me as we walked back to the District Eight floor.

I shot a glare at him, but noticed he was chuckling. It seemed like he was just trying to lighten the load for me. It didn't really help, but I had to appreciate the try.

"How did you do in your session?" I asked.

"Oh, that was so long ago," he joked. "But I defiantly remember doing camouflage, which is funny because that helped me win my Games."

_Now I kind of regret avoiding that station_.

"I think I got like a six in my scores. It was a little below average, as most people were getting sevens and eights. A few got really low scores and the Careers got nines and tens; no surprise there. But mine was I do believe a six," he said.

If I got a six, I would be happy.

* * *

That night came rather quickly. Then again, time seemed to pass at rapid speeds ever since I had been reaped, or so it seemed.

Dezji, Woof, Weft, Gaius, and myself were all crowded on the couch in front of the luxurious television. When I had first arrived, I remember gawking at it as I had need seen something so big or expensive before. It could talk up the entire wall over the fireplace.

On the television appeared the two men from the parade; Lucida and Leatus. Unlike the parade news cast, they seemed a lot more serious now.

"Tonight we are here to bring you the scores of this year's tributes," said Lucida.

"Yes, the scoring was acquired after each tribute received a private session with the Gamemakers. After watching them carefully as the tributes showed off their skills, they gave the tributes each a score that would best represent them and their skills," explained Leatus.

By "watching them carefully", I could only assume Leatus had meant watching the wine in their glasses.

"And now, let us start," said Lucida. "From District One, the male tribute, Paris Argent… A training score of nine. From District One, the female tribute, Aur Metaxas… A training score of ten."

"From District Two," continued Leatus. "The male tribute, Marcello Leon… A training score of nine. From District Two, the female tribute, Helena Sonova… A training score of ten."

Woof sighed.

"Figures that two of the Career districts would have such high scores," he gruffed.

Gaius just went on to smile and patted both Dezji and me on the back while saying, "Don't worry. I bet you two will do well, too."

It went on to list the next five districts. District Four of course was up there; Delphine getting a nine and Coriander getting a ten. District Three, Six, and Seven received what could be deemed as "average" scoring, ranging from six to eight. District Five, which the two shortest sessions, received a four and a two. Finally though, after all of that, was our turn.

"From District Eight, the male tribute, Dezji Warder…" said Lucida.

Dezji had apparently had done camouflage, which Weft seemed happy about. All of us listened in as Lucida continued on.

"A training score of eight. Fitting really."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of a District Eight tribute getting a score of eight.

"Congratulations!"

Everyone cheered on Dezji's good score. I however remained silent as I watched the television. I couldn't focus on anything else except what my score might be. I bit my lip when my name was said.

"From District Eight, the female tribute, Calico Neil," said Leatus. "A training score of six."

I let a sigh of relief. For these Games, six seemed an average score. Weft clapped his hand on my back.

"Welcome to the club," he said.

I chuckled, while everyone seemed focused on Dezji. I ended up ignoring the rest of the scores as I congratulated Dezji with the others.

* * *

**I didn't think this chapter was going to be long but 1,905 words proved me wrong. I guess once I start writing, I write a lot. At least for this story that is.**

**Let it be known the training scores I gave are not a representation of how I feel about your character. That being said, I give you the full list of training scores for each character.**

*** Paris: 9**

*** Aur: 10**

*** Marcello: 9**

*** Helena: 10**

*** Octavian: 8**

*** Claria: 6**

*** Coriander: 10**

*** Delphine: 9**

*** Wyatt: 2**

*** Seraphina: 4**

*** Othello: 5**

*** Anastasia: 7**

*** Douglas: 8**

*** Amira: 6**

*** Dezji: 8**

*** Calico: 6**

*** Danny: 4**

*** Elena: 5**

*** Dallas: 7**

*** Gypsy: 7**

*** Gavin: 3**

*** Nova: 5**

*** Calla: 5**

*** Silver: 8**


	9. Act 8

_Act 8_  
_'Even More Judgement'_

* * *

It was coming to the start of the 24th Games and that meant only one thing was coming; the interviews. It was something that someone as anti-social as I could be dreaded. The tributes were forced to sit down in some fancy interview outfit and "chat up" with some interviewer. It was supposed to make the connection between tribute and Panem stronger, allowing the latter to get to know the former better. I personally find it annoying.

Iridis, District Eight's stylist from the chariot rides, was also in charge of our interview outfits. With her in charge, I half expected to be dressed in some monochromatic garb. Not a dress, but simple _garb_.

"I think you will love this," she said to me. "It will go so great with your red hair."

I had been ushered into a small changing room the floor where interviews would be taking place. They still were in the same building we were staying at, but on an entirely new floor untouched until now. The room I was in was a whole lot smaller than even my room back home. In there I was beyond cramped. Shoved into a small room with Iridis and her two assistants, you would be cramped too.

"Just slip this on, while Joslyn does your hair," Iridis instructed.

I was forced to slide on an orange dress as one of Iridis' brightly coloured hair assistants messed with my hair. It hurts when your head being tugged in every which direction while you roots scream like bloody murder for your help. I swear my hair turned a darker crimson with the blood she drew by pulling out some of my hair. When she was done though, my hair was styled up in a pretty, and tight, bun.

The dress was nice as well. It was a deep shade of orange, which off-set my pale skin and my red hair. It was like Iridis had said, it suited me. It was an off-the-shoulder long-sleeved dress with a short cupcake skirt. The sleeves were a different, lighter shade of orange, making it all that much nicer.

Before I could comment on Iridis' fashion sense, a knock echoed through the small room.

"Decent?" asked the voice from the other side.

By this time, Iridis' assistants had already taken it upon themselves to do my make-up. Iridis ended up answering the door.

"Is it time already?" asked Iridis while opening the door.

On the other side was Weft. He seemed a little impatient today. He probably didn't like the interview process either. He really didn't seem like the social type of guy.

"Yeah," he said, tapping his foot. "Dezji is already ready."

Dezji had been taken care of by Iridis' male assistants while she was busy with me.

With her assistants done, Iridis pushed me out of the room and allowed Weft to take control of me. With that, he guided me to the waiting area while slightly pushing me.

"You're going to go before Dezji this time," Weft said. "Ladies first, as they say."

He finally let go of me when we arrived at the lined that already formed. Dezji was there, looking as thrilled as usual. He was wearing a black suit with a red shirt underneath. It looked rather devilish, though I guess it fit Dezji's outer personality.

"You'll go when instructed," said Weft. "Just remain calm and let the interviewer do his job."

And then Weft left, leaving me a bit frazzled. I stood there, behind the District Seven guy, waiting for my turn to humiliate myself to come.

"You're over thinking this too much," said Dezji.

I turned around to shoot him a glare, thinking he was making fun of me again, only to find his face showing sincerity.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Just watch the screens," he said, gesturing to the television sets set up above the line. "Lucida will help you along with you interview. I have watched these every year and I can promise you he does his job well."

I looked up at one of the televisions set up for us to watch the other tributes' interviews. Up first was the District One female, Aur.

_If I watch this, I should feel a bit more comfortable going up, right?_ I thought. _At least I don't have to go first._

Thinking that, I watched as Aur sat down in the chair across from Lucida. Her interview dress was just as revealing as her chariot dress. Instead of sheerness however, her dress this time was on the side of skimpiness. A light pink dress cut short of mid-thigh hugged her well-endowed body. Rhinestones decorated the sweetheart neckline and the spaghetti straps. With it she wore a pair of high, and I mean high, silver spiked heels. Her hair was pulled back into loose curls in a half-ponytail that fell over her shoulders and her make-up looked caked on. Still, she looked attractive, which was probably her selling point.

"Hello and welcome to the interview segment of this year's Hunger Games," he said. "I'm Lucida and I am here with the first of the 24 contestants. From District One, Miss Aur Metaxas."

Aur waved at the camera, giving a faked smile, while Lucida clapped. When Lucida finished, Aur adjusted herself to look at him. She sat very lady-like; defiantly having the poise I lacked.

"So Aur," he started. "You volunteered for the Games. What is your reasoning behind that?"

Aur continued to smile as she answered. I was feeling rather angry at her, though I didn't know why. Maybe because she could fake such happiness on screen and here I was panicking.

"Well, Lucida, I only volunteered this year because I am so well prepared," she answered.

"You're prepared?" asked Lucida.

"Yes, as prepared as I'll ever be," she said.

Her smile soon turned into a seductive smirk. You could tell the angle she was going for by this point. She was basically flirty with the camera and audience. She even tried to flirt with Lucida, but the man didn't seem to go for it. He continued to chat on politely, but didn't give way to Aur's seducing techniques.

The interview continued on with Aur talking about her preparations and dallying with the camera. The three minutes of her interview seemed to fly by fast. When she was finished, she shook Lucida's hand, shot once last smile at the camera, and exited.

"Along with Miss Metaxas, a male tribute came from District One," continued Lucida. "His name is Paris Argent."

Paris emerged from the side lines dressed in a golden suit. He shined in the spotlights, which was probably his stylist's idea. Either way, it defiantly caught the attention, and from my personal experience, it defiantly fit his personality.

"Hello," greeted Paris, shaking Lucida's hand.

"Paris, you're up against some pretty strong opponents," said Lucida. "Just by the scoring, there were three tens, two other nines, and four eights. These tributes with such great scores, like yourself, are bound to make some worthy opponents."

One of those scores was Dezji, who stood behind me, staring at the same screen I was. I could sense he was listening extra carefully for what Paris was about to say; it did involve him after all.

"There truly is," agreed Paris. "And they will make both great allies and enemies. I don't want to give too much of my plan away, but I plan to use my resources wisely to outlast those that are stronger than me."

"You sound awfully confident," Lucida joked.

"Well, I am confident," said Paris.

I don't know why, he got made a fool of by someone who had a lower score than him. He wasn't really in any position to be confident, unless he was planning on mooching off of the other Careers; which was likely. Paris was a worm among birds, so he would probably do what any smart worm would do and let the birds pick themselves off as he makes himself cozy hiding behind them. I know he is strong-ish, well stronger than me, but most are. He was defiantly the weakest of the career tributes.

He continued on about how his confidence will drive him to win the "24th Annual Hunger Games"… Bleh. His interview, at least to me, came off cocky and rather just annoying, but I could only assume the Capital was eating it up.

Following District One would be District Two, obviously, so after Paris came out Helena. Now this was an interview I wanted to listen to carefully. She was going to be a tough competitor, I could tell it.

Helena wore a long, empire-style gold dress. It was relatively sheer around her legs and back area, which showed off her lean body. Her arms were bare, minus the dark dragon tattoo that ran up her right arm and down her back, which showed through the sheerness. I remember from training seeing some scars on her, but that was probably hidden now by make-up so she could appeal to the vain Capitol figures.

"From District Two, Miss Helena Sonova!" introduced Lucida.

Helena smirked at Lucida, acting as if she didn't want to be there. I couldn't blame anyone for not wanting to be there; I surely didn't want to be there. But Helena was a Career, which meant she was prepared for the Games, so one would think she wouldn't be as angry about them as say myself or Dezji.

"You volunteered, yes?" asked Lucida. "Coming from such a strong household must have prepared you for this, along with the training you received growing up."

Helena seemed to do her best not the sneer. Her family seemed to be a touchy subject for her.

"Yes, the Sonova's have strong background," said Helena.

"You're related to a victor, am I right?" asked Lucida.

"Yes, I am a distant cousin to the Victor of the 13th Games," answered Helena. "Trust me, it is something we are always reminded of in our household."

She muttered the last part, but it was still able to be heard. Lucida appeared slightly thrown off by this, but kept up his interview. I, myself, felt the angst radiating off of Helena. She didn't want to be there and she defiantly didn't want to talk about her family, and that comment made it quite clear.

"So what was the reason for volunteering? Are you trying to live up to your distant cousin? Or is there another reason?" asked Lucida.

_Poor guy_, I thought, actually feeling sorry for Lucida._ He is desperately trying for this interview not to fail._

"I simply volunteered for my mom," said Helena.

"Your mom, huh?" asked Lucida.

"I love my mom dearly and volunteered so that when I win, she will get the nice life she deserves," answered Helena.

One would think a person from District Two would already have a nice life. Then again, usually what is nice on the outside can be nasty on the inside. Helena's home life may not be what is cracked up to be.

Helena's interview went on in an awkward manner. Her sarcasm and short answers made it difficult for Lucida to get anywhere. When her three minutes were up, she got up and, without saying good-bye to Lucida who had extended his hand for a shake, left. As she was leaving, Marcello entered. The organizers behind the scenes practically shoved him out after the fiasco with Helena. Lucida sent a meek smile at Marcello as he walked on in his black suit.

"Marcello Leon from District Two," introduced Lucida.

Marcello shook his hand and sat.

"So Marcello," started Lucida. "Welcome."

"Thank-you, Lucida," said Marcello.

It was like a completely different person from the guy shooting me glares during the parade. He seemed approachable, which was something I never I thought I would say about him. Just from first impressions, I didn't like him. If I saw this side of him first, I might have liked him. Which made me worry about how the Capital will perceive him and how that might hinder me in the long run.

"I am excited to be here," said Marcello.

Unlike Helena, Marcello was easy to interview. He and Lucida seemed to feed off each other. When Marcello would say one thing, Lucida would say another, all in good sport. Marcello was defiantly more open in the interview. He talked about his home life and how happy his family is for him. He also goes on to talk about training both before and after the Reaping. He acts sociable the entire time, though I feel like there is a bit of him that is putting on an act.

Marcello's interview seems to end quickly, though there was a bunch of information shoved into the three minutes. After Marcello's turn was the District Three female, a girl named Claria velnan. I had remembered her scoring was a six, the same as mine.

Her district was known for technology, making Panem's televisions and computers. It was also responsible for other types of technology, but was mainly known for televisions and computers. From what I knew, they also worked in factories and were used to conditions similar to District Eight. Claria herself looked like an average girl, like a few of the designer daughters I went to school with. Not overly frail from lack of food and proper housing. Her pale blonde hair and matching fair skin probably set her apart from the many worn-out people who lived in her district. I could only assume the grey-eyed girl was a daughter of some of the more respected citizens of District Three and that was why she looked as nice as she did.

For the interview, Claria had been dressed in a silver, knee-length dress with a sheer, white shawl over her bare shoulders. Her blonde hair was set up in a messy ponytail, allowing her soft face to be seen. As the interview commenced, she gave a slightly impatient feeling to the interview. She felt like she was trying to be a frillier Helena. While it was probably her personality and she wasn't trying to copy anyone, because I thought so, the Capital probably thought the same way. Throughout the entire interview she had a sarcastic angst about her. Unlike Helena, hers seemed to be completely unnecessary.

After Claria left, on came the District Three male, a strong lad named Octavian Fairbanks. He was one of the four to get eights, along with Dezji and Douglas. It made sense based on his athletic appearance. His entire physique, which he defiantly had one, screamed fit and well taken care of. He wore a black suit similar to Marcello, though his was fully buttoned up and looked more serious on him compared to Marcello. Octavian's physical traits seemed like they would be more appropriate for the stereotyped idea of District three; what with his dark hair and contrasting light eyes.

Octavian seemed to have more of a sense of himself, unlike his district partner. He knew who he was and what he was doing, as if calculating in a way. It wasn't to be surprised as he was from District Three, and thus had intelligence surrounding him.

_Pay attention to him, Calico_, I thought, taking a mental note of just how scary his cunningness was.

I ended up phasing out a little bit near the end of his interview, though Dezji brought me back with a tap on the shoulder.

"Pay attention," he whispered in my ear.

He was a bit cross-sounding, though I wrote it off. I had come to learn to ignore Dezji's tone and listen to his words.

As Octavian's interview ended, the District Four female's began. Delphine entered wearing a sea foam green mermaid-style dress. It was sleeveless and had a very low neckline, though her chest was decorated with a multitude of pearly necklaces which contrasted lovely with her tanned skin.

Her entire interview I could make out why Dezji said not to trust her. While Delphine seemed nice and was so compliment-y and polite, but I felt like it was forced. Much like Aur's smile or Helena's interest, Delphine seemed to be forcing the nice attitude she was putting forth. It was like she was a spider trying to lure flies to her web, and the flies were both sponsors and her fellow tributes.

After her was her district partner, Coriander Prii. I had remembered him from the parade and his toned body flooded my mind. I couldn't help blush at remembering his body. Now he was wearing a navy blue suit with an open blazer. The shirt underneath was a lighter blue and slightly unbuttoned. It gave him a carefree and relaxed feel to him.

I had half expected him to be like the rest of the Careers, but he seemed well the opposite. He seemed genuinely polite and didn't seem particularly at home in front of the cameras. In fact…

"So tell me Coriander, you seem like a nice kid," said Lucida. "How are you going to be able to deal with hardships that come with the game?"

Coriander seemed to mull the question over for a quick second before answering.

"I don't particularly like to think of what will happen to the other tributes, though I know there can only be one winner," he said. "I can only hope to be able to hold myself strong during the hard times."

Albeit he did seem a bit self-centered at times, even at one point saying he plans to win even against the stronger tributes, he seemed like someone who would be good friends to have outside of the Games. I don't know if I could trust anyone in the Games to become allies with them though, even Dezji.

Following Coriander was the girl from District Five named Seraphina Harold.

Now District Five is responsible for powering Panem. All the electricity for televisions, phones, and computers alike came from District Five. I remember in school learning about it having a dam that helped generate a lot of this electricity.

Seraphina was a bright girl, physically speaking anyway. Her ginger hair floated down her back in wild, loose waves. Compared to my darker red hair, hers was a bright orange. It contrasted brilliantly with her pale skin and green eyes. She wore a basic short pink dress that loosely fitted her thin body.

Lucida barely had to talk during her interview, as she just chatted away and mostly kept the conversation alive herself. She talked about trust and the honourable thing. She mentioned how her father had taught her to care about every living thing's comfort, from humans to animals to plants. She was taught never to turn on a person, as that was treacherous. She also stated that was why she was a vegetarian, because she couldn't come to harm an animal. I don't know how you could not eat meat with all the vitamins it provides and be ready physically for something as rigid as the Games, but to tell you the truth, I don't think Seraphina looked ready.

After her, a boy in a pinstriped suit came out. He was the District Five male tribute and was named Wyatt Luna. He was incredibly short, probably standing about five foot two, at most. There was barely anything to him. He had wild orange hair similar to Seraphina, though his roots were darker, almost brownish.

_I guess red-heads aren't as uncommon as I thought_, I thought to myself while touching my hair.

He barely talked during the interviews, even though Lucida kept throwing open-ended questions at the boy. Wyatt kept somehow answering such broad questions with simple, one word answers. I didn't know how he did it, but I was a little bit impressed. Still, based on his personality and physical appearance, I could make the assumption he wasn't going to get far in the Games.

Wyatt's interview finished after what felt like forever and as he left another tribute came out. This time, as if by surprise, was the District Six female tribute. Her name was Anastasia Kalonimos. She was defiantly a surprise though in the appearance area. I remember her from training very little, though I do remember her having her hair completely up and back, which made it hard to deceiver what it was. But during the interview, her hair hung in curls. What was so surprising about it was that it was elderly shining silver. Not many children have grey hair, though here was a 15-year old with it.

Anastasia wore a black mini-dress that hugged her body. With it she wore silver heels that seemed to match her hair.

"That is some unique hair you have got going for you, Anastasia," commented Lucida.

Anastasia nodded.

"It is common in my family to get grey hair early, due the chaotic nature of our household," she explained. "Thankfully I got my grandma's silky silver instead of the typical stringy, dirty grey."

It turned out her hair was originally brown until she was about 12, when the grey started to come it. I admit it was actually very pretty and defiantly set her apart, which was all too important at this time.

After her was her district partner, Othello Spiros. He was a 13-year old kid you looked like he was ready to wet himself. He was so nervous he kept ending up stuttering during the entire interview. It was quite difficult to make out what red-head was saying half the time.

Following his disastrous interview was Amira Arbur, the girl from District Seven. I defiantly remember her from training as she ended up comforting Gavin after Douglas dealt with Paris. She was a sweet person, which was sad, because sweet tends not to last long in a bloody massacre like this.

I watched as Amira sat gracefully in her elegant red dress as she talked with Lucida. She was rather short when standing, but when she sat, she seemed to elongate herself in a natural way. Her brown hair was pushed back with a black headband, as to allow her regal facial features to be shown. What really dominated her face was her large, green eyes which seemed focused on Lucida like a scared deer.

After Amira was Douglas. I ended up completely out of it during his interview though, because him up meant I was next. Looking forward I saw no one in front of me. All there was were a long, red curtain and the stage in which I say Douglas and Lucida chatting away.

"Worry about it and you'll mess up," Dezji whispered.

"Thanks," I said, rolling my eyes.

He was trying to be encouraging, but I couldn't seem to hear it. I was just too flustered. And before I could panic anymore, Douglas' interview ended. I was ushered on stage. As I was entering, I passed by Douglas who gave me a small thumbs up, hidden from the cameras. I flashed a smile and walked fully on stage, sitting down across from Lucida.

"From District Eight, Miss Calico Neil," introduced Lucida.

I shook his hand and he got straight to the questions.

"So I have been told that you're the main provider for you family," said Lucida.

He paused, as if asking me to comment.

"Yes," I said. "I currently work at a factory in my district to support my mom and myself."

Lucida nodded and continued, "So aren't you worried about it all when you're away?"

I thought about it. My mom was probably watching the television at this very second, as it is required by law. Still, it was my mom. She probably wasn't focused on the television at all or even that I was gone. Instead, she was probably buzzed out of her mind with a needle sticking out of her arm. The question being if I was worried, which the answer was indeed, yes I was.

"I am very concerned about my mom, as she is the only family I have," I answered. "She is unable to take care of herself due to… depression, so I take care of her so she can continue on living. She had taken care of me my entire life up until she had become so depressed, so it felt only right to take care of her during her time of need. And that side of me that is always concerned about her wellbeing hasn't left since coming here."

Lucida gave a sympathetic nod. "I see," he said. "You seem much focused on family. Is there anyone else you may be focused on though?"

Lucida gave me a sly smirk, though I had no clue what he was getting at.

"I saw that smile you gave to Douglas," he said.

_What? The friendly smile I gave him for encouraging me?_ I thought, stunned that Lucida was making it sound like so much more.

"He is a nice guy who encourages everyone. I had smiled at him as a thanks for that," I responded.

There was no chance in hell I was going to be paraded as some flirt, like Aur or Delphine.

"Oh, looks like we caught something," said Lucida. "It is okay to have a crush in the Games, no need to be defensive."

You know that moment when people say, "Don't be so defensive"? You almost become unhinged. You go, "Well, if I wasn't pissed off before, I surely am now!" You just raise like five levels on the anger meter. And that was where I was than; Lucida was pushing that I had a crush on a guy I hadn't even talked to. I didn't want to be seen as weak and here I was being shown like a flirty school-girl.

The rest of the interview was conversing about my relationships and how I was with everyone. Apparently Lucida decided to display me as a friend-to-all type of person, which I defiantly wasn't seeing how I already had made two enemies, one of which I didn't do anything to and still seems to hate me.

When I left the interview and Dezji went on, I walked back to where Gaius, Weft, and Woof were waiting. Weft patted me on the shoulder.

"You could have had a much worse interview than having been labeled as a nice, friendly girl," he said. "I couldn't speak for my entire interview. It is rather humorous to think back to it, but the interviewer defiantly wasn't happy about it than."

I chuckled and looked up at the television screen. I wanted to see Dezji's interview.

"So is there anyone you miss back home?" asked Lucida.

"Yes, my younger sister, Lilleth," Dezji said.

I missed Lilleth, too. I hadn't really appreciated her at the time, but at times like this, I would have really liked to have her smile around. She was always chipper, even if the situation didn't ask for it.

"Your district seems to truly care for family, as both you and your district partner hold your family members high," said Lucida.

"I feel like all the districts respect their families, but it is in districts like Eight and the other poorer ones that they are truly held high. It is because we don't have much else that we feel protective about our families," explained Dezji.

"I miss my family."

As I watched Dezji on the screen, someone had said that. I turned around to find it was Weft. He wore a frown as he looked up at the television screen.

"My family had died due to a factory fire a while back," he explained.

"I remember that," I said. "I was only five when it happened, but I remember a lot of people dying or getting seriously injured."

"Yeah," said Weft with a nod. "They didn't die in the fire itself, but my pregnant wife was seriously injured in the fire. The only reason I wasn't there with her was because I was too sick to go to work. When it happened though, I rushed out of bed and ran to the factory. She was stumbling out of the fire with a few other workers. Her skin was so badly burned that you could see bones. She died a few days later from organ failure. With her death was also the death of my unborn child, thus the fire caused the death of my family."

The fire was a pretty horrific event for our district, one that probably won't be forgotten anytime soon. I couldn't imagine losing your family in the fire, though many did. Weft didn't lose his wife in the fire, but instead watched her fade away because of it. Now that was truly saddening. Before I could comment, Woof spoke.

"Looks like Dezji's coming back," he said.

I turned to realize I missed the rest of Dezji's interview. That wasn't very polite of me, after all he was my district partner and I should probably support him at least during this time. Still, I missed his interview and I felt kind of guilty about that as I watched him return from the stage.

"You did well, boy," spoke Woof.

Dezji gave a half-hearted smile and shrug. He seemed in a slightly better mood than before, maybe it was the idea of Lilleth wafting through his mind.

"Next up is District Nine's female, a young girl named Elena Wilkenson," said Lucida.

"We should probably go back to our floor," said Gaius.

"No," interjected Dezji. "I want to watch the interviews in full."

I nodded in agreement. I may fade in and out and get distracted once and awhile, but I wanted to watch as much of the interviews as I could.

Elena was the smallest girl so far; from what it looked, she barely hit five foot even. Her mousy hair was also short, cut into a bob that hovered above her shoulders. She sat in the chair wearing a very child-like, pastel pink dress with a flowery headband in her hair. Her face, despite what her childish clothing may suggest, gave off a very strong look. She looked like she could celebrate with a tea party after ripping off someone's head, if that was even possible. She had the most determined look in her hazel eyes.

She was only 13-years old, just like Othello and Gavin. Still, unlike those two, she had a stronger voice. It matched her eyes. Every time Lucida had a question, Elena answered with a snarky, yet witty answer. It sort of surprised me that someone her age could be so like that at first, then I remembered Nova. Elena seemed better than Nova; not downright as insulting as Nova was, instead just a bit hostile when approached from the wrong angle. From the interview, I learned Elena had a twin sister back home and she had given Elena her bracelet to remember what she was fighting for. I could see Elena soften a bit when speaking of her sister, Clarice.

After Elena came the District Nine male, Daniel Fitzgerald. He apparently preferred to be called Danny. He was a small kid, which seemed to be pretty common these Games. Then again, when your have poor nutrition intake, you're bound to be small. Still the poor kid looked like a girl, what with his long, brown hair and large, doe-like eyes. He had such a wonderful innocence about his look; I couldn't help but wonder how he kept it during this rough time, especially after just training. He wore a matching pastel blue suit to Elena's pastel pink dress. His had a single white flower in the pocket of it, which seemed to fit him perfectly, at least in appearance.

The entire interview Lucida would ask questions to try to get Danny to show his emotions a bit to the Capital, though it didn't seem to work. While Danny was polite and answered, he answered like a well oiled professional. He seemed overly disciplined. While any kid his age, 14, would normally answer questions about how they feel about the Games with fully emotions, Danny seemed to hold back. At one point Lucida even pointed this out and asked the kid why. Danny's answer just showed how mature he truly was.

"Everyone is a bit uncomfortable right now," he said. "If I start getting emotional, others will too. I don't want to make others uncomfortable by pretty much shoving my abundance of emotions into their faces. Yes, I am worried though, but I don't feel the need to show it through crying or clinging to everything."

I wouldn't think that way when I was his age. Hell, I don't even think that way now and I am two years older than him. To have the respect for others emotions is just so mature that I cannot help but respect Danny even more for having such a motto.

Up next was District Ten. District Ten's main abundance being livestock. From the pictures I have seen in text books, most District Ten citizens tend to be well-built and rugged. I know there are exceptions to every rule, but one will always think of the stereotype first, especially when said stereotype has been pounded into your head by teachers, parents, and other authoritative figures. But when the District Ten girl walked out, I think I let go of all stereotypes I had thought of about all the districts.

I had originally though Gypsy Bates was originally from one of the wealthier districts during training. I had never gotten too close to her to realize she was indeed from District Ten. She was tall, which seemed to fit the district's type and she seemed to have some, though barely there, muscles, but everything else screamed wealthy districts. She wore a sheer white dress which was pretty much nothing under the spotlights. She would have best just gone in her underwear, as that is what showed through the dress. With it she wore her hair up in two, bouncing red pigtails, just like she had the entire time I had seen her. Her sharp, modelesque face was caked in make-up, though she seemed to pull it off; acting like she always had make-up on. Seeing her, she just might. Her green eyes were accented with grey eye shadow and blue eyeliner, while her pouting lips lined in red lipstick. She looked like she stepped right out the Capitol.

She acted like it too. During the entire interview, Gypsy continuously flirted with Lucida, much like Aur had done. Like how every time Lucida would laugh, Gypsy would make sure to laugh and touch his shoulder with her hand or brush her leg against his randomly. She acted cutesy a lot; she would continuously talk about herself in the third-person. Just imagine me saying… "Calico is so happy to be here. Calico enjoys seeing everyone having fun. Calico is hungry. Someone better get Calico some food or Calico will get angry." Yeah, it's annoying and that is how I felt listening to this girl. She didn't seem trampish, like Aur, but defiantly was not as innocent as she would like to be perceived.

Following Gypsy was a boy who seemed to fit the idea of District Ten better. His name was Dallas Holliday, or Dal for short. He was well-built and had a decent tan from what I would assume was from working outdoors with animals. His chocolate hair with honey-toned mixed in gave a unique tone to his jagged facial features, framing the strong, hardy smile that stretched across his face. He wore a simple white dress shirt tucked into a pair of dark slacks with some grey suspenders slung over his shoulders. No jacket, though really, it might have looked silly to have a jacket on his big build.

Dal was a lot more wholesome than Gypsy was, embodying the level-headiness someone might have from living on a farm. He was calm his entire interview, differing from Gypsy's childish and hyper attitude. He was seemed like the old saying would describe; "Someone to take home to the parents."

After Dal came District 11. Up first, of course following the general pattern already set, was the female tribute. So you could guess that that meant Nova Deveraux was up first. Finally getting a good look at her, not in a tree or running a course, she was defiantly the shortest one here. She was well below five feet, beating Elena for that title. She was wearing a yellow dress that had an ombre effect near the bottom hem going from the yellow to a deep golden brown. She wore her black hair up in a side ponytail with little golden plastic streaks in it and matching golden flats to pull the look together.

I tried to tune out most of her interview, as the passive aggressiveness in me was getting a hold of my ears. Still I managed to hear a little bit about her. She was raised in an all-male household with her dad and two older brothers, which would explain her aggressive attitude. Still, I don't think that excuses insults, but I'll just let it go so I don't have any emotions holding me back in the future. Nova tied up her interview and soon it was Gavin's turn.

The kid, Gavin Stalone being his full name, walked out, a bit withdrawn from the looks of him. He wore a pair of brown slacks with a khaki button-up shirt tucked in. It seemed to blend too much into his already brown skin and matching black hair. It didn't seem his stylist took the time to handle his appearance like they did with Nova. Favouritism at its finest people.

Gavin's life turned out to be the complete opposite of Nova's. He was raised in a predominantly female household with his mom, aunt, and three half-sisters. With such a careful and gentle upbringing, it didn't seem like Gavin had a chance in the rough and wild Hunger Games. He kept a strong face when talking about them though, which it probably took a lot of courage not to just break down crying at that fact.

Finally the last district was up; District 12. The female tribute was named Calla Perdita. She had coal black hair, which was actually funny, at least to me, seeing how District 12 was known for its coal mining. With her grey eyes, it was easy to tell she was from the Seam, the outer layer of District 12 known for its poverty and crime. She wore a basic black dress that looked like it had no effort put into it.

Calla was a horrible person to listen to. She wasn't rude or conniving or fake like some of the other tributes. Instead she had lost all hope. She was so depressing that it actually made me feel as depressed as my mom while listening to her. I felt like ending my life there just so I didn't have to hear anymore.

Thankfully her district partner wasn't as disheartening to listen to as she was. Silver Gray was his name, though was a bit dissimilar to his appearance. Instead of an expected hair and eye colour similar to Anastasia's hair, he carried sandy brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a lean build, created by probably working a whole lot. He defiantly gave off the air of hard-worker.

His interview was more like a debate. I don't know how it became one, as Lucida was asking peacefully, though personal questions. Silver somehow managed to get a bit passionate about some things and turned into a debate of sorts. All I can say was it was interesting.

And with the end of Silver's interview came the end of the programming.

"I am glad to have been here with this year's tributes, 24 interesting characters who are sure to make this year's Hunger Games one to remember," said Lucida. "I am Lucida and I will see you tomorrow with the beginning of the 24th Annual Hunger Games!"

And so the night came to an end. Dezji and I were escorted back to our floor where we ate and then fell asleep. I lay in my bed, staring at the holographic window. The window, similar to a large television, could change scenery to make the person feel more at home. Instead of staring at the Capital's picturesque scenery, I had changed it to an overlook of District Eight. It was my home, a place I wish to return to alive someday. The next day would be the first of many of a destructive event, and probably the bloodiest. The first day always is. Thinking that, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

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**This was the longest chapter I have ever written… Ever! At 6,802 words, I was actually thinking of splitting it into two parts, but decided against it. I didn't give everyone a speaking role because I was afraid of it a.) getting too similar in text and b.) getting too long. It was already long with just descriptions, I can only imagine how adding more dialogue would make it.**

**I hoped everyone enjoyed a look into the cast of **_**Overture of a Massacre**_**. Next chapter, or "act", will be the Cornucopia and the bloodbath. I won't tell you who, but I will say eight of these interesting characters will die. My sources say the average death count of the Cornucopia is eight, so I am making it eight.**

**For those wondering, we have four blondes, four black-heads, five gingers, ten brunettes, and one silver haired. Of those, eight have blue eyes, eight have brown eyes, six have green eyes, and two have grey eyes. So behind brown (a common colour) ginger was the most common hair colour and blue the most common eye colour.**


	10. Act 9

**POLLS ARE STILL OPEN! And make sure to review!**

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_Act 9_  
_'Fruit of the Cornucopia'_

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I woke up to the horror of Weft standing over me with an Avox, which trust me, is not something one needs in the morning. They had come to wake me up and get me ready. Last name was the interviews meaning that this day was the beginning of the Games. I was all stressed out last name, but upon falling asleep, I had forgotten all about it. It was only after Weft said something did I actually start freaking out.

After waking me up I was pushed around most of the morning. I was at least allowed to eat my breakfast and shower, but afterwards I was handed off by Gaius to Iridis. She pushed me into another small room, much like the one I was in when preparing for the interviews. There I was stripped of all clothing and forced to dress in some basic clothing. Brown pants with a thick black long-sleeved shirt. The pants were tucked into thick white boots and over it was a winter-style jacket with mauve body and black sleeves. On the both of the sleeves was a circular patch with the number "8" on it. When dressing I noticed the inside of the jacket was completely white.

Once I got dressed, Iridis handed me off to some Peacekeepers, who in turn corralled me into a large hover craft. There I was sat in a seat beside Elena, the girl from District Nine. I remembered her for her stubborn attitude, but also her soft side towards her sister. She was actually rubbing the bracelet her sister, Clarice I think, gave her.

I looked around to find everyone was on. Dezji was surrounded by Careers. If our seating was any indication, which I hope it wasn't, of who would be around us at the start of the Games, then he was in for some trouble. Dezji however didn't look worried, instead was holding something crumpled up in his closed fist and whispering something to himself with his eyes closed.

"What's that?"

I turned to my right to see Seraphina, in a burnt orange jacket, freaking out as a needle was brought to her arm. At the same time a man came up to me with a needle just like the one being held to Seraphina. It was a large one attached to some sort of electronic device.

"This provides the trackers," said the lady in front of Seraphina, instantly injecting her.

I had the same thing done to me as I watched Seraphina bite her lip. From experience, I can promise you it is not a fun thing to go through. Like every other needle, it hurt, but I think this one hurt even more. It was held in me for a little bit as I felt something injected into my arm. Something on the device beeped, which apparently was there to notify the man to take out the needle. Looking at my arm I could see a small flash blue light beneath my skin.

_This must be how the Gamemakers track us_, I thought, staring at the flashing blue light.

The rest of the tributes were injected as well, though a few of them desperately didn't want the needle in them. Still the idea of being held down by the Peacekeepers on board stopped them from downright rejecting it.

The hovercraft was there to take us to the arena, wherever that was. There was a new arena every year. Back at the skyscraper, Dezji and I were shown videos of past Games; though only ones with living victors. One of those Games was set in a frozen tundra arena where 17 tributes died on the first day due to freezing conditions. Another was an underground cavern with most of its area only dimly lit by some bioluminescent fungi. Many did from mysterious cave crawlers and others from poisonous insects.

After what felt like forever, though in reality it was probably close to a half-hour, the hover craft set down. From there on we were steered to individual rooms. I did manage to see a blue jacket enter through the door to the left of me. They had short, brown hair, so I would go to assume they were male. And if the main colour of our jackets had any relation to our district, which I would assume blue at least would, I would have to assume the one would entered was District Four male tribute, Coriander. Though I was only guessing at that point. There were many guys with brown hair, including Silver, Danny, Douglas, and that's just three of the seven.

I entered the room to find Weft waiting for me.

"Good to see you're alright. I thought your _sass _would get you into trouble when the needles came out," he said.

I really didn't like how he emphasized 'sass', but I let it slide. This would be the last time I saw him before the Games started, and if I didn't win, the last time in general. I wasn't going to spend this time being crude, though every ounce of me wanted to ask him what he meant by that.

"You got enough rest," said Weft. "So you should have enough energy to run as soon as that timer hits zero and find a safe place to hide."

He was expecting me to run, just like he did; probably just like the rest of District Eight Victors had. I was expected to run just like them because I was weak.

"What if I need the stuff from the Cornucopia?" I asked as I stepped up onto the platform.

"Of course you're going to need that stuff. It is invaluable. That is why it is there!" Weft snapped, actually more like shouted. "They put valuable supplies in the Cornucopia to trick people into running for it and participating in the Bloodbath."

The Bloodbath was something I was dreading. It was one of the few things I did remember from the previous Games I had watched at home. I remember witnessing the gore, the pain, the endless deaths that happened because tributes wanted either the supplies or weapons the Cornucopia held. The Bloodbath always held the most casualties. I remember one time 12 died during it because the Careers were the fastest to get to the weapons and slaughtered everyone else. Usually between eight and 12 tributes die, so I would have to expect those number would also apply for these Games as well. If that were true, at least eight of us were going to die during this Bloodbath because we either wanted supplies or were getting cocky and wanted a weapon.

"Focus!" Weft shouted. "Calico, once these platforms raise and the signal sounds, find a place to hide."

Suddenly a loud, mechanical-sounding lady sounded over the speakers.

"Sixty!" she chimed.

The countdown had started and thus the platform began to raise.

"Ready," I whispered to myself as light from above shone down and blinded me.

I felt the platform stop almost instantly, though I still couldn't see clearly. My vision was sort of fuzzy due to the immediate brightness hitting me. I did make out other figures surrounding me though and something sparkling in front of me. If I wasn't clear of mind I would have stepped off that platform towards it, only to be blown up for leaving the platform early.

"Fifty!" the lady counted.

My vision was slowly returning to me and I started to be able to see things a little bit clearer. I had guessed correctly about Coriander being to the left of me, and to the right was Silver. Two of the strongest tributes beside me; just what I needed. I noticed Dezji was further away from me and surrounded by Aur and Anastasia. He seemed ready to run away into the forest surrounding us.

It was only when I noticed the forest did I feel the bite of the cold weather. The arena this year seemed to be inspired by a mountain range as tall, snow-capped peaks surrounded us. Soft snow fell lightly to the crispy grass below. We sat in what seemed like one of a few valleys, though I would only be guessing from the looks of it. This valley had a small, though dense, forest thick with trees and brush. We sat in an even smaller clearing with had the shiny silver Cornucopia in the middle. Around the Cornucopia, sitting in the snow, was a bunch of black nylon bags, while closer to it and inside sat fancy weapons. I could make out about two swords, three axes, a bow and a quiver, and a whip, though the smaller ones were probably hidden in the grass by laying on the ground.

"Thirty-Five!"

About half a minute to finalize a decision I had made below in the room. I had decided I was going to grab at least a bag so I would have supplies from the Cornucopia I needed. I wasn't planning on getting a weapon as that would only cost me my life in the process. Besides I could easily make a slingshot, but I couldn't make a flask or a blanket. Looking around, it seemed like others thought the same thing.

I saw Nova, who stood on a platform between Marcello and Danny, eyeing a bag close by. Elena was also eyeing a nearby bag. She stood on the other side of Coriander. There were a few bags close by to us, so I didn't fret about her stealing only one. Besides, if I got greedy and worried about getting the most bags, I would probably get myself killed.

"Twenty!"

Thing that worried me was that the Careers were not just eyeing it, but ogling the Cornucopia. That was to be predicted, though that didn't make me any less worried.

"Fifteen!"

I was beginning to second guess my actions. Should I actually run and grab a bag or run and find a hiding spot? Both required a lot of running and both put my life in danger. If I tried to get a bag, dur, I would risk being attacked by other tributes. The death would right up front. But if I ran away and didn't get my necessary supplies, I would risk my life at the hands of nature. The death would be slow.

"Seven!"

The countdown was closing in and everyone seemed to position themselves towards what they were planning. I still was second guessing myself.

_I guess that sassy attitude doesn't help in situations like this_, I thought.

"Five… Four… Three… Two… One!"

Following the lady's voice the loud signal sounded, alerting everyone to the start of the Hunger Games. Everyone seemed to act in fast-motion; everyone but me. I stood there frozen on the platform watching the scenes unfold in front of me, not knowing which way to act.

It was only seconds after the sound of the horn a scream cried out. I looked over to find the guy I thought kind to be choking out Elena. Coriander's arm was wrapped around Elena's neck, pulling up thus allowing her body to dangle. She had a nylon bag in her hands and was whipping it around in a struggle to get loose. But no matter how hard she might have hit him, Coriander wasn't loosening his grip. Soon her body grew limp and Coriander let it drop to the ground. In response to her lifeless body sitting in front of him, he merely pried the bag from her hands. He had killed her for a bag.

I wasn't frozen with guessing anymore, but instead frozen with fear. Someone I had thought to be a sort of kind guy ended up killing a 13-year old girl. I could only imagine how her mother and sister reacted to seeing Elena be the first one to die. I could see the bracelet sitting on Elena's motionless wrist.

As that happened another scream was heard; this one coming from the direction opposite of me. Looking over I saw Marcello looming over a smaller figure while already holding a sword. I don't know how much time had elapse, but apparently it was long enough for Marcello to race over and grab a sword. He was now standing over the figure in a menacing fashion. He didn't look happy or angry as he held the sword, just apathetic.

"Stop!" the figure screamed and it was by the voice that I recognized who she was.

It was none other than Nova. The preteen was crying as Marcello lifted the sword, pleading with the teen boy to just let her go.

"Those fake tears are not going to fool me," he said, swinging down the sword.

To tell you the truth, I don't think Nova was faking her fear.

The sword struck Nova at her neck, causing her to fall back from her kneeling position. I saw a thin red line at first stretch across her neck and watched it as it grew bigger as the blood began to poor out of her neck wound. She seemed to have enough energy to place her hand on her neck before she finally stopped breathing. The lime green ribbon wrapped around her wrist soon became drenched in blood. I hadn't wanted Nova to die so soon. Even if I had disliked her, she was still a child and no child should have to die so soon. I sure as hell hadn't wanted to see it.

After Nova's death, they started to pour in. Both the boy from District Five and the one from District Six died at the hands of Helena, who seemed to be on a rampage with the other sword. She swung it so nimbly too that I didn't know whether to be scared of her or to admire her skill. Wyatt was stabbed in the stomach by Helena who then proceeded to slash Othello across the chest. Both were so deep that there was no saving either of them.

Soon after the death of her District partner, Seraphina had begun to mourn. She had already grabbed a bag and was ready to get away, but after witnessing Wyatt's murder, she began to cry. I wanted to tell her to run. I wanted to tell me to run! I had every intention to warn her, but my voice didn't seem to want to work. And as I stood in sheer silence, Aur had launched an arrow from her newly acquired bow at the back of the ginger girl. The arrow hit Seraphina square in the back of her head, killing her at what I could assume was instantly. Seraphina fell backwards onto the arrow, which only skewered her head more. I ended up having to look away from the sight as it was just so… Gross.

Amira had managed to grab and axe. She was swinging it back and forth at Paris, who was trying to get her with a knife. Amira didn't seem to be having any of it. She was from District Seven so of course she would be skilled with an axe. I could have even sworn I saw her at the axe station during training and she was killing it.

As Amira dealt with Paris, Claria had come up behind her. The blonde girl was wielding two knives, holding them close to her in a defensive position. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and looked like she was ready to kill Amira. I hadn't thought that wise, as Amira looked a lot more trained than Claria. Then again, I wasn't one to talk of wise moves as I still hadn't moved from my position. Instead I continued to watch the scenes as if it were the theatre.

Amira had seemed to see Claria sneak up behind her out of the corner of her eye. Paris had went to jump her at the exact time Claria went to stab her. What happened next both amazed me and frightened me at the same time; even more than Helena's skills. Amira pushed Paris off and quickly swung her axe over her shoulder and whipped it behind her. Claria didn't even have time to react. The axe stuck down on top of Claria's head, cracking open her skull and getting stuck half way in. Claria stumbled backwards, still apparently alive with the axe in her head, and reached up for the hilt of the axe. She tugged on the axe, though it wasn't coming out, only blood gushed out. She finally managed to get a good grip on the handle and pulled the sucker out. As the axe left, so did most of her blood in her head. She fell to the ground almost immediately.

Amira went to turn her attention back to Paris, only to find a knife stuck in her back. It was positioned right at her heart, which was a guaranteed kill. Amira still had some life in her as Paris laughed at her coughing up blood. She grabbed her axe and swung it at him. She didn't have enough energy to swing it properly, so she ended up swinging it sideways by mistake. The blunt side of the double-headed weapon hit the side of Paris' head and knocked to him to the ground. Soon after, Amira fell to the ground.

Paris lay unconscious on the ground as Helena walked up to his body. I could faintly see blood coming out of his noise.

"Useless," Helena said.

I didn't expect what she did next. She stomped on his head, killing him as he was out. They were both Careers, so they were supposed to be on the same alliance. She wasn't supposed to kill him, yet she did.

As I watched this, a figure ran towards me. It was Silver, who was carrying two bags, the whip, and an axe.

"Run you idiot!" he shouted, running past me.

His harsh voice snapped me out of my daze. The Careers had already gathered up the rest of the bags and making their way towards me. I didn't have any more time to hesitate. I dashed off of the platform and ran into the forest. I didn't stop running until I hit the rocky mountain side.

_Snow means water_, I thought, looking up at the snowy caps.

They must have given us these warm clothing to prevent a repeat of the tundra arena, which was considered "boring" by most in the Capital. I should have been able to maintain my body heat in the cold, mountainous area if I regulated my breathing and kept bundled up. Mountains also meant caves which I could only hope to find one deep enough to hide in for the rest of the Games.

As I hiked the face of the mountain I thought back to the Bloodbath. Why did I watch it? Was I afraid? What a weird question, of course I was afraid. I was afraid I would have been Seraphina or Nova or Elena and get killed before even starting. I was so afraid I couldn't even move. I had planned to grab a bag and I had chickened out. I was pathetic. Still, because of that pathetic side of me, I managed to survive. That and because of Silver. He could have left me to die at the hands of the Careers and he didn't. He snapped me out of my trance.

I didn't manage to find a cave, but I did manage to find a tall enough tree that I could hide in for the night so I could sleep. That is, what little sleep I could get. My dreams ended up being haunted by the deaths I had witnessed.

Later that night, before the coming of Day Two, Anastasia died.

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**End of Day One and the Bloodbath. I cannot apologize enough if your character(s) died during the Bloodbath. Everyone has to die, but no one wants to die first; but someone has to. I didn't want to kill them off. Also I apologize if the deaths were too gruesomely descriptive for you. I will be toning it down as time goes by, or at least I will try.**

**So it looks like I might be making another Hunger Games story after this. The polls are saying half of you want that, though the polls are still open so no telling if it will staying there. If I do though, I have a question.**

**QUESTION: Would you want a sequel [of sorts] to "Overture of a Massacre" set in a near future Games? Or would you want an AU story set after the 75****th**** Games? Please answer in the reviews.**

**Deaths In This Chapter**

***Elena - Placed 24****th****; Killed by Coriander.**

***Nova - Placed 23****rd****; Killed by Marcello.**

***Wyatt - Placed 22****nd****; Killed by Helena.**

***Othello - Placed 21****st****; Killed by Helena.**

***Seraphina - Placed 20****th****; Killed by Aur.**

***Claria - Placed 19****th****; Killed by Amira.**

***Amira - Placed 18****th****; Killed by Paris.**

***Paris - Placed 17****th****; Killed by Amira and Helena.**

***Anastasia - Placed 16th; Killed by Unknown.**


	11. Act 10

_Act 10_  
_'Allies and All-Lies'_

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The beginning of the second day greeted me with the artificial sun blaring into my face. I hadn't gotten much sleep, having been woken by the anthem. I watched as the tributes that had died had their portraits projects onto the sky through holographic images. A quarter of us tributes had died in the Bloodbath and one soon after, making it a total of nine to die on the first day. While that wasn't an uncommon number for the Games, in fact it was in the lower range of the average, it was still disheartening. So many people I thought would be nice and could have been good friend material; they were now either dead or sanctioned murders.

I had slept in the tree uninterrupted though. I was actually surprised the Careers hadn't chased me, but there could have been reasons for it. Because I was so sickly looking and weak, they may have thought it was fine for me to get away for now. That I might be killed by the conditions easily or they could simply kill me later. They had probably already built up a camp around the Cornucopia as to store their supplies and catch any tributes trying to steal it. I had wasted my only chance to get supplies from the area and now would be forced to live off the land.

After looking around at the ground and deeming it safe, I descended the tree. All I had were the clothes on my back and I would have to make due as I continued to scale the mountain. As I did, the trees started to become more and more few. If I did find a remote cave I would want to start a fire to keep warm. With so little trees, I figured it would be smart to correct branches as I climbed for fire wood. And that I did.

"Looks like we got a runner," shouted a voice.

It was a voice I knew all too well. It was the voice of the killer of Seraphina; Aur. In a reaction to the sudden shout, I dropped the sticks I was carry and quickly scaled a nearby tree. I stumbled a bit getting up, even gave myself a minor cut on my leg, but I got up.

_If I was only as good of a climber as Nova is… was,_ I thought, correcting myself in my head.

The shouts had come from the other side of some brush, but from the tree I was able to see the scene. They hadn't even noticed me, instead were shouting at a green clad child. Looking closer I noticed it was Gavin, who was indeed running from a group comprised of three older teens. Looking closer, all three of them were Careers.

There was the golden child, Aur. Her jacket was literally a golden colour, which seemed to fit the idea I had of District One and their annoying wealth. Her golden hair seemed to flow into the jacket, like almost melt really. She had a wide grin on her face as she chased Gavin. She defiantly didn't seem heartbroken about the early loss of her district partner. She was even running with her district partner's killer.

Helena was running right beside Aur, though didn't seem to be having as much fun as the other was. She instead had a harsh, intense look on her face. It was like watching a predator chase its prey. The blade she brandished looked thirsty for blood. I could only imagine the torturous death she would lay out for Gavin if she actually caught him.

The other in the trio of girls was Delphine. Delphine seemed as easy about this entire situation as Aur was. Delphine was trying to race ahead, as to apparently corner Gavin, though he seemed a bit faster than her.

"You little runt! Just accept your death already!" shouted Aur.

Aur was horrible. She would not be someone I would ever want to be around. Then again, anyone who could kill so easily, like Helena or Aur, I wouldn't want to be around anyway.

"Leave him alone!" another voice shouted.

I looked over to see Douglas, in his brown jacket, came in. The three girls seemed caught off guard by someone actually stepping in to help someone. So much so, Gavin was able to run away and hide off in the brush.

"You let the bug get away," complained Aur.

She looked towards Helena and Delphine, as if silently asking permission to show her anger. Delphine noticed Douglas was weaponless and nodded at the others. Helena quickly took notice of this too and Aur, only after the other two pretty much pointed it out for her.

"You made a big mistake," muttered Delphine.

I had noticed that was Delphine, holding a couple of knives, and Helena with her sword closed in on Douglas, Aur was slowly drawing her bow. She was doing it so slowly and smoothly, I couldn't tell if Douglas had seen her through Helena and Delphine's brash movements. They were moving so hurriedly towards the District Seven boy that it was actually hard to miss Aur's weapon being readied. And as I once again puzzled over whether to shout out a warning, Aur released her arrow. Everything else happened so quickly.

Douglas seemed to have noticed Aur and easily dodged the flying arrow, though because he was focusing on that, he didn't ready himself for Delphine and Helena coming at him from both sides. Douglas grabbed Delphine by the wrists and threw her aside. She was much smaller than him; it was probably easy for him. He whipped her around and launched her at a raging Helena. As she was flung by him, she released her weapons almost instantaneously. Douglas was now armed with two hunting knives.

"You're a bunch of bitches, you know?" said Douglas. "You are chasing a defenseless kid, treating as if his death is a game to you."

"It's called the Hunger Games for a reason," said Aur.

"It is called the Hunger Games because the Capitol looks at it that way. We are not the Capitol, so why are you acting like you are?" asked Douglas.

Aur scowled at the teen. I was just shocked that he was able to talk to them like they weren't anything to be intimidated by. I was too choked up to warn him, so the idea of me actually talking in that situation at all would probably be too much for me. I may get a bit spirited on a normal day, but these Games brought out the scared side of me.

Aur went to shoot another arrow at him, but he instead threw a knife at her. It hit her hand almost square on. Her screams echoed through the landscape. I covered my mouth, as I really wanted to laugh at her. In my opinion, she deserved a whole lot worse for what she did to Seraphina. She pulled out the knife from her hand causing it to bleed profusely.

"Enough playing games," said Helena.

The District Two tribute had thrown Delphine off of her and gotten up. She grabbed ahold of her sword and aimed it at Douglas.

"That's what I was going to say," said Douglas.

Helena cried a warrior's cry as she charged Douglas. She appeared too much for him, as when her sword clashed with his only knife, his knife went flying into a few bushes nearby my tree.

"Shit," cursed Douglas before Helena's sword pierced the right side of his chest.

It would have hit his lung where the sword got him. And with the promise of his death certain, Helena wiped off her blade and turned her back on him.

"Where are you going?" asked Aur. "Finish him off."

Aur seemed to want to get revenge for hurting her, but Helena merely shook her head.

"He is going to die. Look, he cannot even move," she said, pointing at him.

She was right. He was laying on the ground, curled up in the fetal position and clutching his chest where he got stabbed.

"Let him die slowly," finished Helena before walking away.

Delphine quickly chased after her. Aur just huffed and walked over to the dying Douglas. She whispered something that sounded like, "That's what you get, dick", or something like that and kicked him in his face before running after the other two.

When it was certain that they were gone, I climbed back down the tree and raced over to Douglas.

"Hey, you're from Dezji's district right?" he asked, looking up at me. "Calico, right?"

I nodded. He was dying, truly dying.

"You know, this hurts," he said. He took his hands off of his chest to reveal a nasty wound. "I don't want to die slowly. It hurts so much."

He was crying now. I didn't want to see him die slowly either. There was one this I could do however. I got up and walked back over to the tree I was in.

"Please, don't leave!" cried out Douglas. "I don't want to die alone!"

I wasn't going to leave him alone. Instead after finding what I was looking for quickly, I walked back over to his limp body and kneeled down beside him. I took hand and squeezed it.

"I wasn't planning on it," I said.

He looked at my other hand and his eyes grew big. Resting in my other hand was the knife that he stole from Delphine. It had landed at the base of my tree. I had retrieved it to relieve Douglas of his pain. I looked over opposite of me to see a small flowering bush amongst some snow. Douglas followed my line of vision and rested his on the bush.

"It is beautiful," he said. "To have something so beautiful in such a nasty place; it makes you wonder how it can survive."

"Yeah," I said.

I was crying now; knowing what I was about to do. I released his hand and gripped the knife with both of mine. Positioning it just right, Douglas continued to speak.

"Thank-you," he said, smiling while staring at the bush.

"You're welcome," I said.

And with that, I brought the knife down with as much force as I could muster. Douglas died that day, not because of Helena's wrath but because of my mercy. He died looking at beautiful flowers and a smile on his face. And as I looked down at his lifeless body, I dropped the bloody knife onto the snowy ground. I just broke down after that. It was then I realized these Games were all lies. They weren't there to teach us the lesson of our ancestors, but to torture us. I had always known that the Capitol saw this as entertainment, but I didn't realize just how bad it was. Now I knew and I don't think I will ever be able to forget.

* * *

**So there is the death of Douglas. It truly messed Calico up to have to kill Douglas, but she managed to. It is now her first kill. What do you think? About Douglas' death, about what Calico will do next, and who will die next chapter. Yes, there will be a death next chapter, too.**

**Deaths in this Chapter**

***Douglas - Placed 15th; Killed by Calico.  
**


	12. Act 11

_Act 11_  
_"Was It All For Nothing?"_

* * *

With Douglas dead, I felt into despair. I hadn't known him really, but I felt close to him. He was allies with Dezji and he had helped Gavin on more than one occasion. Granted he had a few anger problems built up inside of him, but he was generally a good person. I don't think Dezji would have trusted his judgment if he wasn't.

I now had a single knife in my possession. Better than what I had before, which was nothing. I ended up cutting a few roots and using them as ropes to carry my branches I had gathered for firewood over my shoulder. As I walked, I sensed a presence behind me. Credit it to being "attacked" from behind by Lilleth all those times or just living in District Eight in general with all of its crime, but I had managed to learn how to sense when I was being followed.

"Are you just going to follow me this entire time?" I asked, continuously looking forward.

I heard a branch crack and a sniffle. I turned around and saw it was Gavin, who had come out from hiding. It was obvious he had been crying. His eyes were puffy and beet red, also his nose was running and his mouth in a perpetual frown.

"D-Douglas d-d-died because of m-me," he stuttered, crying.

_Shit_, I thought.

I placed the wood pile on the ground and walked over to Gavin.

"He didn't die because of you. He died because of Helena and Aur and Delphine," I explained, kneeling down in front of him. "You couldn't have done anything to change that either. If he didn't risk his life, you would have been caught and killed."

Gavin looked up at me, snot running from his noise. He looked rather pathetic, but then again, he watched another person getting killed because that person helped him. It was only natural he would blame himself.

"Come with me," I said, standing up. "I'm trying to find a cave. You can help."

I picked up the pieces of wood and continued to walk. He ended up following me, though he really didn't have any better plan. He started to calm down pretty quickly as we walked in silence.

_Probably a bad idea to bring it back up, but I need to know_, I thought.

"Why were they chasing you back there? The Careers?" I asked.

Gavin seemed a bit hesitant to answer, which I would expect. Still he answered after waiting for a little bit.

"I was trying to get food from them," he said. "I was hungry and they had all those bags. Some of them contain food. I just wanted some of it."

He paused.

"I saw you help Douglas," he said.

I bit my lip. I didn't want him to see that. He was already mortified about Douglas dying. I didn't want him to have seen that I truly killed him.

"You put him out of his pain," Gavin continued. "You truly helped him."

Suddenly the sound of branches breaking nearby set me on edge. I dropped the branches I was carrying beside a tree and turned to Gavin.

"Hide!" I snapped quietly.

Gavin nodded and scurried beneath a nearby tree into a cavity between its roots. I turned to the direction of the noise, readying the knife I had. I wasn't skilled with it, but I probably could do some damage. As the sounds grew closer, the more and more I was ready to jump on the unidentified person. Suddenly the sounds came from in front of me, behind a tree. I moved around, baring my knife.

"It's you," said the person.

It was Dezji, who had come from the direction of the Cornucopia. Over his shoulder was a black nylon bag, like the ones featured in the Bloodbath. He hadn't participated in it though, so it kind of threw me through a loop.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, lowering my knife.

"The Careers are out and about hunting other tributes. The only people at their camp were the District One girl and the District Ten girl," answered Dezji. "It was pretty easy to get past the District One girl, as her hand was injured…"

_I remember that_, I thought.

"And the District Ten girl was busy playing around. It is pretty pathetic they that she was strong enough to be of use to them."

Dezji looked down at the knife I was slowly rotating in my hand as I thought. His eyebrow arched.

"You manage to get that out of the Bloodbath?" he asked. "I'm impressed."

I shook my head.

"No," I said. "Delphine dropped it and I managed to grab it."

Dezji shrugged.

"Still impressed," he said. He suddenly began to look around. "Have you seen Douglas? I heard a gong and I want to make sure he is alright. We had a plan to get rid of the Careers."

"Douglas…" I parroted.

With Douglas' name being said, Gavin came out of hiding and began to cry again. He held on to the hem of my sleeve as I dropped my arms to my sides.

"About that gong…" I started.

* * *

"How could you just let them kill him?!" Dezji shouted.

After Dezji had asked about Douglas, we had proceeded to find a safe place to settle and I told what happened. Dezji instantly began to shout at me when I finished telling the story.

"The scary District Two girl… Helena, was there," said Gavin. "If anyone would have tried to help Douglas, she would have killed them."

I dropped my head upon thinking of how scared I was at seeing Helena.

"Besides, Calico helped Douglas in the end," explained Gavin. "Helena had left him to die slowly and alone. Calico sat beside him and put him out of his misery."

Dezji looked at me. I couldn't quite tell if he was angry or what. I thought I saw a hint of anger in his expression, but I also saw signs of major depression behind his glares. He must of recognized Douglas as a friend to be this reactive to his death. Dezji let out a big sigh and proceeded to talk.

"Douglas told me about his family," said Dezji. "I guess that is when I started to trust him. He was an open book, wanting to be friends with almost everyone. Yeah, there were people who he didn't like, but he didn't bash them behind there back. He merely stayed away from them. That was something his entire family believed in, to be kind or to just ignore. He was a good person who didn't deserve to die like this."

I nodded. No one truly deserves to die like this. And even though I hate to admit it, not even the cruel Helena deserves to die in the Hunger Games. I believe that it is the Hunger Games that makes normal people into cruel monsters like Helena or Aur.

"Douglas deserves some vengeance," said Dezji. "And I will get it for him… Are you willing to help?"

If it meant getting rid of the Careers, then yes. Gavin and I nodded simultaneously.

"I want to help, too," said Gavin. "Douglas sacrificed himself for me and I will not let that go in vain."

The rest of the day and night were spent planning on how we were going to take down the Careers. Later that night, as we talked, the picture of Douglas was featured in the sky with the anthem.

* * *

**Not my longest chapter. I just wanted a basic update and one without a death. I really didn't want to kill Douglas, but I felt he was too nice to survive the Hunger Games, which saddens me. Anyway, death next chapter so don't get too comfortable.**

**I would like to thank everyone who has either followed or favourited the story or myself as an author. You guys make me feel so happy, you don't even know.**

**Anyway, about the ending. I know for a fact I am having this story at 24 chapters/acts. Now how I am going to end, like with or without a Victory Tour, I don't know. I'll see what I feel like and what I am comfortable with.**

**Remember to REVIEW! I want to know what you guys think is going to happen next and which character is your clear favourite. I am fine with favouritism, as I too have a bias. Can you guys who I like? Hint: It is not Calico, though I do love her.**


	13. Act 12

_Act 12_  
_"Good-Bye"_

* * *

Now Dezji had come up with a plan and I have to admit, I was asking myself a lot of questions as I listened to him explain it. Like did I agree with his plan? Did I _feel safe_ with his plan? And while I agreed that I wanted to avenge Douglas' death too, I had to ask if this was the right way to get it. He had planned for me to distract Helena and Marcello, while Gavin distracts Coriander and Delphine. We would go in separate directions to spread them out. With them gone, only ones left at their camp would be Aur and Gypsy. Dezji would then go in and set fire to all their supplies. So I ask myself again, is this really a good idea? Gavin would be chased by two strong tributes, risking his life. I would be chased by two strong tributes. Still, I couldn't think of a better plan to punish them for taking Douglas' life in such a cruel manner.

The second night in the arena came and went. I could barely get any sleep. The next morning came with the songs of the mockingjays. It was a beautiful way to start a horrible day, I say.

"Ready?" asked Dezji.

He had already been awake before I had woken up. Gavin was still sleeping peacefully where he had all night. Dezji might have been upset at losing a friend, but he didn't put any of that anger on us. In fact, he was incredibly calm around Gavin, maybe because it was his brotherly instinct. He was defiantly patient with the kid.

I nodded my head at Dezji's question and went to wake Gavin up. Our plan was set to begin when the Careers were still waking up. If we could catch them when they were still a bit groggy, we might have a chance at pulling this off.

And without much idle chit-chat, we set our plan in motion. I went around the west side, while Gavin went around the east and Dezji from the north. I was to gather their attention first.

"Hey, you District Two assholes!" I shouted.

I couldn't see them from where I stood, but Dezji had signaled to me they were there. I could only trust him and continue on.

"Helena, you already killed four people in a ruthless fashion, one of them being a fellow career," I continued to shout. "So answer me this, how does it feel to be the biggest bitch in the entire Games?"

I guess I must have set her off as she finally came into view out from in the Cornucopia. Behind her stood Marcello and Coriander. She looked pissed. And without even answering me, she began to charge; her sword already drawn.

"Shit," I muttered, turning tail and running.

"Let her go, Helena!" I could hear Marcello call out to her, but Helena didn't appear to be having any of it.

I turned my head slightly to get a glance of what was behind me. No surprise, Helena was chasing me through the trees. And much to my happiness and somewhat fear, Marcello had also taken chase. Now I could only hope for Gavin to pull off getting Coriander and Delphine away and for Dezji to start the fire.

I continued to run, listening to the sounds of the thuds of feet following me. I felt like I was in a horror novel, being chased by a monster. Actually, I was being chased by a monster; two in fact. And if they caught me, I would indeed be ripped apart, brutally killed for millions to watch. It was the real-life horror novel, the Hunger Games.

"Get back here!" snapped Helena.

"Ah, no!" I shouted back.

Like I would totally just stop in my tracks and let the monsters of District Two kill me. It is hard to answer, but I would have to go with a big, fat N-O.

"Helena, think about it," called out Marcello from behind. "This feels like a trap!"

He was right there. It was a trap and it defiantly felt like it too. We hadn't done a good job hiding it.

"Helena!"

Marcello's cry seemed a bit less argumentative and more out of fear and surprised. Stealing a glance back, I knew why. Dezji had done his job and black smoke had begun to pile upwards from the center of the arena, right where the Cornucopia was. Helena apparently upon hearing Marcello and seeing me smirk, had stopped and turned back. I continued to run away, getting as much distance between me and them, but I did see Helena's shocked body language as I got away. Helena and Marcello began to race back to the Cornucopia, while I ran to our planned meeting place south of the Corncucopia.

Upon arriving there, I came only to see Dezji.

"Where's Gavin?" I asked.

"He hasn't returned yet," said Dezji.

That was a big concern. Our plan was that Delphine and Coriander would give up the chase of Gavin and return to the Corncucopia after seeing the fire. If that was the case, it still wouldn't have taken Gavin so long to get back. The only idea I could think of was that Delphine and Coriander got him before the fire was set.

"I'm going to go look," I said.

I went to run towards the east, where Gavin had went, but Dezji had grabbed my arm. I whipped around to snap at him for stopping me, but instead quieted when he put his finger to his lips to silence me. He then went to point towards the Cornucopia. Upon further look, I noticed Coriander and Delphine had returned. They were dragging a struggling figure behind them.

"Gavin!" I whispered.

I went to run out to help him, but Dezji held me back. I could only assume because Helena and Marcello had also come back. With the fire still going and all six of them there, it was dangerous to head out into the open. Still, I wanted to help Gavin, but Dezji held me back.

"This your idea?" asked Delphine to Gavin.

Gavin kept his mouth shut as he struggled in Coriander's grasp. Delphine and Aur just chuckled at Gavin's uncomfortableness. Helena went to draw her sword from her holster, but Marcello stopped her.

"Do you always have to turn to your sword whenever you get angry?" asked Marcello.

"He's right," said Aur. "I have a better idea."

She walked up to Gavin and placed her hand on his shoulder. Even at a distance, I could see her hand had been wrapped from the injury caused by Douglas. Gavin, even as the sweet little boy he looked like, let loose a nasty sneer at the District One tribute.

"Are you going to tell us where your friends are?" asked Aur.

Gavin continued to glare at Aur, as if answering her with only that angry look in his eyes. Aur just chuckled and raised her hand. She looked at it for a bit, like she was contemplating something. Seconds after doing so a loud sound echoed through the clearing. Mockingjays flew from the area, running away from the assaulting sound. Aur had smacked Gavin right across the cheek, leaving a large red mark outstretched across his cheek. Gavin's body fell limp to the pain I could only imagine. Aur might have looked weak, but I had a feeling she was hiding a lot of strength inside of her. Aur went on to grab the dark-skinned boy be his black hair. She continued to drag closer to the fire.

"She isn't going to do what I think she is, is she?" I asked in a whisper.

I turned to Dezji for an answer, but he instead continued to look forward at the scene. I couldn't tell if he was scared or curious about what was about to happen. I turned back to see Gavin terrifyingly close to the still heavily burning fire.

"Well, here's your punishment," said Aur.

Without a single hesitation, she pushed Gavin far into the flames. Dezji covered my mouth as I went to scream. My mind went blank after that. I don't remember much of what happened, though I remember Gavin's screams. He was screaming out my name, crying "Calico, Dezji! Help me!" as he burned alive.

Dezji ended up pulling me away from the scene as I continued to remain a blank mind.

"We let him burn," I muttered. "You let him burn."

I turned to Dezji and pulled my arm from his grasp.

"I wanted to help him and you let him burn!" I shouted.

Dezji just sighed and shoved a bag into my arms. I hadn't noticed at first, as I was too preoccupied with Gavin, but Dezji had managed to grab a few bags from the Careers before burning their stash.

"You reveal yourself and everyone dies. I'm sorry, but I prefer living over dying. Besides, we avenged Douglas and that is all I set out to do," he said in a cold manner. "There is a slingshot in there for you. Now we can split our ways."

Before I could protest, Dezji left. I just ended up standing there alone in shock. Because I followed Dezji and let Gavin do so too, Gavin is dead. It is partially Dezji's fault for letting Gavin die, but it is also my fault for leading Gavin to his death. I fell to the ground thinking of how was going to be able to live with the idea I let a 13-year old kid die like that.

* * *

**So there is Act 12. What do you think? Poor Gavin. I didn't want to describe his death any further because I felt like I was going to cry. I was debating whether to kill off Gavin or Dezji, but with Gavin's age, it ended up being him.**

**So here are a few things I have noticed in this fandom that are bugging me. I submit OC's under a separate account set aside for doing just that. With this account, I have submitted to over 200 different stories. And of those 200 stories, I have submitted to multiple, and I mean multiple, Hunger Games SYOC's. A few trends I have noticed with Hunger Games stories in particular make me want to stop submitting to them though.**

**1.) Their form. The form is usually a lengthy form with unnecessary information. Is the author so lazy they cannot come up with their own interview costumes or chariot costumes? The long forms make it feel like the author just wants the submitters to write the story themselves. I do not want to have to fill out how my character dies, "if they die", because I want to be surprised when they die.**

**2.) Also, don't say you're going to randomize the dying order. That makes no sense. What if the strongest tribute ends up dying first because of your randomization? It won't work with the story. Besides we all know your District 12 girl you created is going to win the story.**

**3.) The Sponsoring Systems. Come on people! To quote David12341, it is just crying a GMFR-story at that point. The sponsoring system never works out for a story, instead just makes it more difficult to maintain the story. One of the many reasons I will not ever have one. I am just too lazy to keep it up, like most fanfiction writers.**

**4.) The first 24 chapters are all just the POV of the tributes being reaped. I find having to read a 300 word chapter of a poor attempt at my OC quite annoying. They all seem to be the same anyway. When my District Two crude and ill-tempered girl's opinion of the Games sound exactly like another person's sweet and innocent District Seven girl, there is a problem. Besides, usually the story doesn't last long enough to get through all 24 tributes' POVs.**

**PS: There are 904 SYOCs/SYOTs, not considering multiples, and only 62 are finished.**

**QUESTION****:**** Are you guys also annoyed by this stuff or am I alone?**

**Deaths in this Chapter:**

***Gavin - Placed 14th; Killed by Aur.**


	14. Act 13

**So it looks like I am losing some of my followers for this story, which I don't know why. If you are still reading but have unfollowed OoaM or are thinking of unfollowing/unfaving, please tell me why in a review or PM. I would desperately like to know.**

* * *

**Act 13**  
**"The Fourth"**

* * *

I had wished it only to be a dream. Gavin's screaming, his death; I hoped it all just a figment of my imagination. I wanted Aur's actions to be just a cruel joke of the mind. Yet with the coming morning of the fourth day, I was welcomed with the fact it wasn't. The bag Dezji had handed me sat on my lap as I lay in the tree. It was a big, black nylon reminder of what had happened the other day. The District One girl had thrown Gavin into the fire we had planned for revenge for Douglas. Our plan had backfired and Gavin paid the price. Dezji didn't even seem to care; in fact he was pretty apathetic about the entire scenario. I understand not wanting us to die either, but I felt guilty for not even trying to help Gavin.

"Why must I be so emotional?" I asked myself.

Back in my district, back at home, I refrained from showing too much emotion. It was something everyone did to protect themselves in the city. You get caught by a gang and show any type of emotion, they will use it against you to hurt you. Pill defiantly would. So I tried to be just as stagnant with my emotions, at least the weaker ones, like the rest of District Eight. I may have shown aggression or vivacity, but that was it. No crying, no laughing, and defiantly no regret in front of others.

But here I was, on camera for the entire nation to see, crying and feeling regret. I had no idea what was coming over me. All I knew was that I didn't feel comfortable with what was going on, whether it was caused by my emotions or an outside force. Either way, I wanted it to stop, but I didn't know how to make it stop. How does one turn off these strange, alien things one call emotions? I didn't want to turn them all off or I might turn into Aur or Helena. Both seemed to have turned most, if not all, of their emotions off, thus being the sociopaths they are. But I didn't think I could stand all these emotions that were flooding me at once. I wanted to go back to how I was before. Could I ever?

I placed my head in my hands, trying to gather my mind, when I heard I noise from below. Looking down I noticed a boy standing below. He appeared to be searching for something as he was closely analyzing the trees' trunks. I situated myself, trying to make not much noise, so I could hide.

The boy was from District Three, as I could tell from the dark grey part of his jacket. If I remembered his name correctly, it was like Octavian or Octavio. No, it was defiantly Octavian. For some reason I couldn't remember much about him, though it was possible due to the flood of information from the last few days that my mind didn't deem him "important" enough. I could see however his neat, dark brown hair from my aerial view.

As if sensing my presence, he looked up and around. I believed I had managed to hide myself in time that he hadn't seen me. I didn't know if he had a weapon on him. I doubt he got any from the Careers, but he might have been able to make one. I peeked out from behind the thick branch I was hiding behind and noticed he had already disappeared.

_That was close_, I thought.

I didn't want to deal with anyone today. All I had wanted to do was wallow in my misery and find a cave. I got down from my tree, after one more look around for the District Three. Once cleared of all signs of life, I took my stuff and began to head back up the mountain. I kept the knife I managed to keep at my side. If I was jumped, it would be my only way of protecting myself.

As I walked up the mountain, I only had my mind to keep me company.

_He screamed my name when he died_, I thought.

I shook my head.

_No I cannot think of that_, I continued. _Need to think of something else. My mom… Yes, when I win this I will be able to get her into a lovely house and away from the drugs. She will be fine again._

I wasn't entirely sure I was going to win or not and if I was, how it was going to happen. All I knew is that I wanted to think of something positive and that seemed the most positive thing I could think of. If I won, my mom and I could live in Victor's Village in one of the many beautiful houses. We would have a large place to live and food to eat. My mom wouldn't be around Pill any longer, so she wouldn't have her steady supply of morphling. We could have a normal life.

But then a somber idea crawled through my mind, quickly sobering me of any happiness I might have gained.

_If I win, everyone has to lose._

We have already had so many people die; Elena, Nova, Seraphina, Wyatt, Othello, Claria, Anastasia, Paris, Gavin, Douglas, and Amira. And so many more would have to die to ensure my victory. Families would lose children. Siblings would be lost. Lilleth… For me to win, Dezji would have to die. Dezji was all Lilleth truly had when it came to family. I didn't know much, but I did remember Lilleth saying she had no parents. Dezji took care of her. If Dezji died, who would help Lilleth? And how many other tributes' families would be at a loss without them? The Hunger Games was even more monstrous than I had first thought. Not only were we, 12 to 18-year olds, killing each other for the mere fate of survival, we were hurting each other's families and friends. How can someone make a choice to kill another with that thought in their mind?

I made it pretty far up the mountain that day, alone with my thoughts. I even had managed to find a small, shallow cave to spend the night. It wasn't warm and it would be too noticeable to start a fire, but I made it work. It was a whole lot better than sleeping in a tree. No one had died that day either, which seemed to set my mind a rest a little bit. Still one could only imagine how the Gamemakers were taking the idea of no deaths. Only three deaths had happened after the Bloodbath, which is never a good sign. It usually means it is boring for the Capital and could only mean that the Gamemakers were about to spice things up.

* * *

**Fourth day was just Calico contemplating stuff in a short chapter/act. No deaths. I was really sad killing off Gavin, as he was one of my favourites. I had actually thought of bringing him back somehow, but I killed him and I need him to remain dead for the story to continue. :(**

**For those wondering there is eleven (11) dead and thirteen (13) remaining. The fifth day will be split between two chapters (hopefully) and there will be a lot of deaths that day.**


	15. Act 14

**Did I mention I have issues? I'll continue that later.**

**This is a special chapter just for you. 100 points to whomever gets the joke in this act's title.  
**

* * *

_Act 14_  
_"Garlic Powder; Part One"_

* * *

I awoke to the empty sounds of my apartment. Ever since they had taken Calico away, I had been greeted every morning by only the sounds of my own breathing and the sounds of the cityscape from the outside. None of the sounds I had grown accustom to that my daughter would make every morning, such as making breakfast or heading off to work, came to me. It was a saddening realization that she had been taken away from me.

Everything in my world was falling apart. I had lost the love of my life, thus losing my ability to trust anyone again. I had lost my job, thus losing my ability to push forward in life. And now I had lost my daughter, and thus losing everything else about myself. I may have never said it, but Calico was my life. She was the only light I had left in the world and now she was bound to be lost to the Games. All that I could do to forget about this realization was to drown myself in my drug of choice, choosing to forget anything I didn't want to remember; things I couldn't handle to remember.

I sat on the couch in the living room and looked towards the screen in front of me. It was required by law to watch the Games. I never knew why until now. Having a child in the Games makes you realize, they want you to watch so they can torture you without laying a finger on you. It was horrible.

As I turned the screen on to see what had happened the night before, I prepped my needle. I looked away from the screen whenever another tribute was on. It wasn't like I hated the other kids and wanted them to lose, but I didn't like them either. I didn't care about them either way. Only one I paid attention to was my child.

It was merely reruns during this time of the day and some footage. It wasn't truly required to watch this portion, as most worked during this time and couldn't do two things at once. Still, I didn't have a job and I had to support Calico to the best of my abilities. Even if I could only support her with my needle-full of numbness, then I would do just that.

I injected the painkiller into my system through my arm. I had to use an increased dose I had gotten from Pill a little while ago due to my tolerance of the drug growing with every use. It was like my body was teasing me. Like it was saying, 'I'll make it feel good to use this, but I will make it so you have to use more to get the same feeling every time.'

"Looky-looky."

The voice on the television dragged my attention from my arm and needle to the screen. It was the voice of the one tribute Calico had insulted, Helena. Helena has been a cruel and brutal tribute, making her a worthy opponent. The added facts that she was both from District Two and proficient with weapons made her ever more dangerous.

The sight of her on the television made me gasp. Not because it was just her, but because she was in front of Calico once more. They had found themselves on the side of the mountain Calico had been scaling. Not only were they there, but so was another girl. This girl wore a completely black jacket and even though I couldn't make out her patch, I swore that all black meant District 12. She was standing to one side of Calico with Helena in front of them.

"Looks like I finally got you, you bitch!" Helena sneered at Calico. "No one insults me. I don't let my classmates insult. I don't let any adults insult me. I sure as hell won't let you insult me either!"

"What is your problem?" asked the District 12 girl. "You're acting like everyone is out to get you."

"This is the Hunger Games, not some sleepover you get to do your hair at and have cookies!" snapped Helena. "Remembering that everyone is out to get you is how you survive."

I didn't see how this situation had started, but I wasn't about to look away.

"We should remember that Helena had just abandoned the now barren Career camp," said one of the announcers; their voice overlaying over the scene unfolding between the three girls. "She had gone to find Calico, which is really no surprise, seeing how she probably blames the District Eight girl for making her lose all that supplies."

"Yeah," voiced the other. "And it was only luck that Calico had been caught by the District 12 girl, Calla, which caused Helena to find them both."

So the District 12 girl, or Calla really, was not an ally. This only meant my daughter had enemies on both sides of her. One was an overly powerful tribute warrior and another so depressed she was probably desperate for any hope and would do anything, ANYTHING, for it.

"You have been killing people non-stop since the beginning of the game," remarked Calico. "Even a fellow Career. True allies are not, and will never be, out to get you. You just wouldn't know that because you never give anyone the chance to prove that they are genuine. You would prefer to smash their heads in or stab them and leave them to die."

I remember the two deaths Calico was referring to. The first being the District One male. I had even thought of it as strange for a Career to kill another Career during the Bloodbath. I was even higher than normal, using an increased dosage to drown my sadness on the first day of the Games. The other death was that of her quick friend from District Seven. Calico bringing this up, Helena didn't seem too happy about it. The District Two girl scowled at the mention of this. Calla seemed to take the hint that there was some drama between Calico and Helena and began to back up slowly.

"I really should get going," said Calla, who turned tail to run away from the scene.

But just as she went to run, a figure jumped out from behind a tree in front of the raven-haired girl. She didn't react quickly enough to the sudden attack and was quickly stabbed in the gut. The figured turned out to be the boy from District Four, Coriander I think the announcers called him. He held Calla up as she went to sink to the ground in pain. He only did this to allow him the chance to twist the knife in her stomach before pulling it out. Only then did he allow her limp, bleeding body to hit the ground.

"You really think I would do this by myself? Besides, we all want a little revenge on you and your partner for what you did to our stuff," said Helena.

"No! Calico!" I shouted, jumping out of the seat.

My drugs had been spread out around and on top of me. When I had jumped, they had flown every which direction. I dropped to my knees to pick them up, but stopped when I heard screaming from the television. I looked up to see Calico running.

_Hurry my daughter_, I thought. _Don't let them catch you_.

Suddenly knocking from the front door rang through the house.

* * *

**There is my present from me to you. Hoped you liked this special chapter from the POV of Calico's mom. Next chapter we will be back to Calico's POV. Longer chapter next one as I promise to actually get a look into some character's personalities better.**

**I haven't really explored the internet lately, but having the need to do so (looking for apartments) I discovered an old game on Scholastic's website called Tribute's Trials. It is an interesting game and hard to beat at first. I managed to get it though and get a high score, though it looks like they reset them every day. I challenge you guys to play it and see how high you can get it.**

**Deaths In This Chapter**

***Calla - Placed 13****th****; Killed by Coriander. **


	16. Act 15

_Act 15_  
_"Garlic Powder; Part Two"_

* * *

I had been sleeping in the cave I had found a while before and was discovered by Calla, from District 12. She and I had a bit of a standoff, though neither one of us was willing to make the first move. We were just holding our ground with our respective weapons, mine a knife and hers a heavy rock. I wasn't the best with the knife, so the fight could have gone her way if she knew how to defend herself with the rock. Though neither one of us ever got a chance to make the first move, as it was made by Helena. She apparently had been looking for me to get back for insulting her. She was beyond livid about that, though no one could blame her. Letting go of grudges was hard, as I still held anger towards her for killing Douglas and letting Gavin die.

Helena had brought back-up in the form of the rest of the Careers. It was Coriander who ended up killing Calla, who tried to run away. Delphine, Marcello, and Aur were there, though Gypsy wasn't anywhere to be found. Then again, she probably retreated from the group due to their stuff being burned; which was probably why they were all so angry towards me. I had helped destroy their stuff, along with Gavin and Dezji. Gavin was already dead and Dezji was probably hard to find. I was the only one available to get their frustration out at.

"You thought we would just let you off after you and your buds destroyed everything we worked hard to get?" asked Delphine.

I debated whether or not to respond. I desperately wanted to ask what she meant by "worked hard to get" and if she meant killing children smaller than her in a ruthless fashion. But the expression on her face, rigid and fuming, told me that it was a rhetorical question and that I was better to keep my mouth shut.

"Where's your friend, the District Eight boy?" asked Aur.

I still didn't answer. I was bound to die, being outnumbered and out-skilled. I wasn't about to bring Dezji in to this. Besides I didn't have an answer to give her anyway, as I didn't know where Dezji had disappeared to.

"Not willing to talk? Doesn't matter, we'll find him," said Delphine.

I was being closed-in on from all sides.

_I'm screwed_, I thought.

Suddenly a sound from nearby caught everybody's attention. A male voice was shouting out something inaudible. No one was able to be seen from where we were, though the voice came in clear enough to tell he was close. The Careers looked about to make sure it wasn't a trap. For all they knew it was Dezji trying to confuse them. I highly doubted it was him, as he seemed angry last time I saw him, but I would take any distraction I could get. I ran as soon as their faces were turned away from me. I don't know where I was running to, but I was pretty sure anywhere was safer than being surrounded by some angry, grudge-holding, highly trained Careers. And they didn't waste any time after I made my move. I could hear them coming after me.

I ended up running down the mountain towards the trees. I had worked so hard to climb that mountain, but a cave wasn't going to save me now. The only thing I could hope for was to run to forest in the valley and find protection in the hordes of trees and brush.

Snow was falling even more so today and it was still dark, so it was hard to navigate as I ran away. The Careers didn't seem to be having any trouble, but when you are so determined and narrow minded, anything can be easy. I didn't seem to have near as much determination to outrun them and survive as they did in trying to catch me.

As I ran, the mountain started to become a bit steeper. I didn't remember climbing these part, though it was the arena and for all I know they could have been changing it as time went on. The snow that had fallen was already becoming solid ice due to the frigid weather, making it entirely too slippery.

"Ahh!" I screamed as my feet slid out from under me.

I had stepped on a section of black ice, a dangerous type of ice that is almost impossible to be seen. It is just a thin layer of ice over a hard surface and due to its width, it is nearly transparent. I remember having it on the roads of my district during winter. It was best not to run on it, as once you slid, you were destined to continue and possibly get hurt. I wasn't thinking that there was going to be any black ice on my path as I ran away. I was sadly mistaken. I slid down the steep slope, hitting everything on the way down. I finally came to rest as the slope started to mellow out, but I had still gone rather injured. Cuts and bruises that I had gathered from rocks and branches of bushes were scattered across my body, mainly on my hands and face.

I staggered to get up and saw the Careers looming over me from the top of the slope. Aur had drawn her bow. Even with her injured hand, she seemed confident that she could hit me.

"Bitch!" she shouted as she let the arrow fly.

Apparently she wasn't as good as she had hoped for. The injured hand had made her aim shift a bit and instead of hitting me dead on, the arrow merely pierced my right arm. It still hurt to hell and back, but I wasn't dead… Yet.

I pulled the arrow out and took off running again. They would be forced to take it slow down the slope if they didn't want to end up hurt like me or worse. I had some time to hide. And the perfect hiding place stood right in front of me. A tree with a small cavity underneath its roots was right there. The cavity was mainly filled with snow, but I could easily squeeze in and be hidden. And just as I made my way in to the cramped cavity, the Careers showed their faces.

"Where did she go?" asked Helena.

She was glaring, scavenging her surroundings for any sign of me. I didn't think I had pissed her off so much, but apparently I had. She didn't look at all happy to have lost sight of me and appeared even angrier that her companions had also lost sight of me.

Suddenly the voice rang out again, the same on as before.

"Gypsy!" the voice cried out.

_Gypsy? Like the District Ten girl, Gypsy? _I wondered.

I was sure to remain silent, no matter how much I wanted to tell the guy to stop shouting out. He was bound to get hurt if he continued. I didn't know if I could live with myself if I let another person get hurt without trying to help them. That is all I seemed to be doing since I started this. Still, I know I wouldn't be able to live at all if I did help them. The Careers would be sure of that.

"Looks like someone else is here," said Coriander. "You guys continue to look for the girl. I will take care of him."

The other nodded and split up, leaving Coriander ready to jump the unsuspecting tribute.

"Gypsy!" cried out the guy.

All of the sudden the boy who had been calling out for Gypsy stumbled out from behind some trees and out in front of Coriander. The boy was Dallas, or Dal as I remember he liked to be called. He was Gypsy's district partner and apparently had teamed up with her after she abandoned the Careers.

"Shit," Dal cursed under his breath upon seeing Coriander.

"I'm sorry dude, but this is going to have to be your last night," said Coriander.

For some reason, I felt a sort of hesitation behind Coriander's voice. I don't know why, but he seemed diffident about killing Dal even after he himself volunteered for the duty.

"Like hell," said Dal.

Dal had a makeshift spear he wielded. It was made from a sturdy looking stick and a sharp arrowhead-like rock tied to one end. Despite the brutish look of it, it seemed rather durable. Coriander had his knife and a sword at the ready. It may look like Coriander had the advantage, but a spear had a lot more reach than a knife or a sword.

Dal lunged at Coriander, holding his spear with a solid grip. He was determined to win this fight. And right than the safest place for me was to stay in my hiding spot. Coriander easily dodged the rock and whipped his knife out and at Dal's arm. Dal hadn't expected Coriander to be so quick and was caught off guard. The knife hit Dal's left forearm, leaving a shallow gash through his jacket. Anymore slashes in that area was bound to tear through his jacket and get his arm and that would be a disadvantage for Dal.

I continued to watch, silently cheering for Dal to win. While that would mean I would have to possibly go up against Dal, that meant I had one last Career to deal with.

"You're pretty good," said Coriander, panting as the battle continued at high speed.

"You too," responded Dal, also panting. "To bad you have to be on the wrong side."

"I'm on the winning side," said Coriander as he once again dodged Dal's spear. "I will always be on the winning side. It is the only way I am going to survive."

_Survive…_

I made the realization that Coriander wasn't as bad as I had thought during the Bloodbath. During the interviews I had thought of him as a "nice kid", like everyone else had. Even Lucida had thought him as that. Thing is, Coriander was probably a very nice kid. But in the Games he had become a ruthless, emotionless killer in order to survive. He was only doing what he had to do to live. I remember Gavin. Gavin kept his sweet personality the entire time he lived and was killed because he couldn't adapt to it. Coriander was the complete opposite. He had adapted to the challenges and hardships the Games through at him and had survived this entire time.

"I'm sorry to say this, but once you lose the sense of yourself, you have already lost the game," said Dal.

Dal had ended up right beside Coriander, which seemed to benefit Coriander more so. Coriander had went to turn his knife onto Dal's side, but Dal seemed to be quicker than him. Dal threw his spear down, hitting Coriander smack dab in the foot, the head of the spear actually going through his boot and foot both. With Coriander distracted by that pain, Dal quickly disarmed him of his knife and stabbed him in the throat. Coriander fell to the ground almost instantaneously. Dal just looked down at his body as Coriander's life slowly left him.

"Coriander!"

The voice came from behind my tree, so I couldn't see who it was. But from the sound of the cry, it sounded like Delphine. Upon running up to the dead body, my suspicions turned out to be correct. Delphine kneeled down beside Coriander's dead body as the gong rang out to announce his passing.

_Shit_, I thought. _If they hear that gong, all the Careers may return. Then they would be bound to find me._

I continued to sit in silence, though I panicked inside my mind. I would be found out and killed. I needed to live to get home and support my mom. If I died now, I would leave my mom without anyone to take care of her. She would probably die at the hands of her morphling and the dealers who supply her, Pill and the like. I couldn't die unless I wanted to let my mom die as well.

Delphine looked up at Dal, who had already grabbed Coriander's knife. He wielded both his spear and the knife, ready to try to take on the peeved girl. Delphine didn't say anything, instead grunted in displeasure as she sprung towards the District Ten boy. She didn't pull any weapons, instead bared her hands at him. Dal was a bit thrown off and ended up toppling backwards as Delphine fell onto him. He was quickly disarmed by her and her hands found their way around his throat. I would think he wwould be able to throw the light Delphine off of him, but she appeared to have a good grip on him. Her legs were tightly hugging him, so she couldn't be moved.

I closed my eyes as I heard Dal gasp his last breaths. I opened my eyes to find Delphine smiling at the sight of Dal's dead body.

"You're dead," she said.

She was so into the moment, she didn't notice someone sneak up behind her. It was the boy I had seen awhile before, from my seat in the tree; the District Three boy. He had snuck up behind her and had grabbed the knife that was lying in the blood-stained snow.

"Correction, you're dead," he said as he sliced her neck from behind.

Her body fell forward, laying on top of Dal's dead body. Two gongs rang out in memoriam of the two fallen tributes. The District Three boy, Octavian, just stood there, neither happy nor angry at the sight. Instead he seemed to be thinking, analyzing, something.

"I know you're there," he suddenly said. "Calico."

He said my name in a low voice that sent shivers down my back. It almost made me scream how intimidating this boy could come off as. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought him as one of the Careers with as much confidence and strength he radiated.

Having had my hiding spot been discovered, I slowly climbed out from the cavity and confronted him.

"These idiots may not have noticed you, but trust me, I am a whole lot smarter," said Octavian. "I kind of wished you would have stayed in there though. It would have been a lot easier to kill you."

He had dropped the knife and grabbed Coriander's sword from the scabbard at his waist. He pointed the silver sword at me, smiling ever so slightly at the fact I only wielded a knife. He gave a small chuckle as I stood there shaking. He seemed to be getting off at my fear.

"You're pathetic, you know that right?" he asked mockingly. "You run away from everything and hide to try and survive. You obviously don't know how to fight and think you can still live through this even though you clearly cannot. You're down right pathetic."

I did look like a mess. I had minor scratches and bruises covered me and my arm wound had turned my purple sleeve a dark burgundy. Still even with all my problems, no one had the right to insult me, let alone this boy. I had survived this long after dealing with the Bloodbath and having encountered the Careers three times now. I may have looked it, but I was anything but pathetic.

"Shut your face!" I shouted.

I guess he didn't expect me to charge him, but I did. He had tried to ready his sword, but I ducked down and stabbed him right in the abdomen. He fell backwards and started to gasp. He desperately tried to stop the blood from pouring out of his wound, but with no avail. I stood over him with my knife and shoot a glare down at him.

"Never call me pathetic, you jerk," I said.

With one final blow, I launched my knife down at him and into his forehead. I ended up killing him with all the anger I held up. His death was rather quick as I soon heard the final gong after the knife was lodged in his skull.

_Have to hurry_, I thought.

With all those gongs, the Careers were bound to return. I wasn't going to be able to return to my hiding spot, because they would probably find me if they truly searched. I picked up the other knife and put it in my bag. The sword and its scabbard found their new home at my waist. I kept my original knife in my hand as I shot a look at the four fallen tributes one last time. With that, I ran.

* * *

**So four deaths this chapter. Including the first part, there were five deaths during day five. Ironic I like to think. I wasn't even thinking about it when I was planning out the deaths.**

**Anyways, about the title. Garlic powder is a strong tasting and smelling spice used in a lot of cooking (especially in my household). So with the story needing some "spicing up"… Title is a spice, the story needed spice… Get it. I know, bad joke. I'm sorry.**

**There is a total of six districts out of the Games. District Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eleven.**

**Deaths in this Chapter**

***Coriander - Killed by Dal; Placed 12th.**

***Dal - Killed by Delphine; Placed 11th.**

***Delphine - Killed by Octavian; Placed 10th.**

***Octavian - Killed by Calico; Placed 9th.**


	17. Act 16

_Act 16_  
_"Hunger Pains"_

* * *

It had been a while since I had truly eaten. The bag Dezji had grabbed for me only had so much food, which I had eaten. I had tried to conserve my energy, but still that didn't help the hunger pains growing inside of me. It was hard even to walk sometimes due to the cramps. I would try to catch something, like one of the many squirrels and rabbits that I saw running around, but I didn't have those types of skills. Besides cooking them would require a fire and that could signal the other tributes to where I was. I wasn't about to give up my position to the enemies, even if I was starving.

"I need to try to catch something," I muttered.

I remember the snaring station back in the Capital. I hadn't thought much about it at the time, but now I had sort of wish I did. Learning to make a snare would be nice to catch food. I wasn't thinking about how I was going to get food during the Games when I was training, but then again, I wasn't thinking I was going to survive even six days.

I walked through the forest. After having finally abandoned the thought of finding a cave to hide in, I had come to accept my new surroundings were to be the trees. I had been sleeping in the highest of branches and hiding in cavities of trees. The snow helped a lot in the hiding department too. It wasn't as bad as I had first thought when starting the Games. I couldn't stay in one place all day and thus didn't have a secure hiding place like I would with a deep cave, but I at least had a lot of hiding places to choose from in the forest and I didn't have to worry about being out in the open when traveling like I did on the mountain side. The valley collected a lot of snow, but was a whole lot warmer than the mountains as well. Well, I wouldn't say warmer; maybe "less cold".

After the whole thing the day before, I surprisingly hadn't seen any tributes. I had half expected for Helena to be still after me. However she didn't seem to get angry over people's deaths instead seems to get angry over things involving her personally. Maybe she had given up on finding me for revenge on insulting her. Aur however seemed like the type of person to get angry over every little thing she possibly could. She would be the type of person to get angry over the deaths of Coriander and Delphine and blame me for them.

Suddenly interrupting my thoughts was the presence of faint whistling. Upon hearing the pale tune I got on edge. I was stocked with weapons, everything from a slingshot to a sword. But I wasn't very proficient with the sword and the slingshot was only good for long range and would only cause injury to anything bigger than a bunny. So the only weapons I was able to wield would be my knives.

I snuck up on the sound, being sure not to make much sound myself. The whistling was a happy tune, a rather exuberant jingle at first, though upon a clearer hearing of it, I discovered it had a morbid melody to it, like death was whistling it himself. The tune seemed to have a very melancholy theme to it but with an upbeat tempo. I didn't know who was whistling it, but I could imagine them as someone that would put me on edge.

I spread the bushes in front of me and peak through. On the other side was the Cornucopia.

_I didn't think I was this close to the Cornucopia_, I thought.

Standing there amidst the charred Cornucopia, whistling the ditty I was hearing, was the red-headed Gypsy. She was walking around the mouth of the Cornucopia, whistling as she paced. She seemed strangely at home in the ruined area. She looked as if she was protecting something as she paced with a bow in hand. Upon closer look I realized she was. Inside the Cornucopia I could see a few bags that must have been salvaged from the fire and crates of what I could would be food from sponsors. That only went to prove to me that sponsors were important. Apparently Gypsy or whomever she was working with had made an impression on the sponsors, and a good one at that, because Gypsy seemed very well-fed. While I, who apparently had not made any impression or at the most a very bad impression, was starving and drooling as I stared at the supplies.

_I could just charge her_, I thought.

She wasn't holding the bow like she knew what she was doing with it. She held it more like an amateur I would see in some Capital propaganda. It may look cool how she held it, but even I, who knew very little of bow handling, knew she wouldn't do very well with it. With her holding it like that, I could probably attack her head on before she even got a chance to shoot an arrow. But with my weak physical standing and the cramps of hunger pains, it would probably be in my best interest to not take the head on approach. Maybe to go around the back of the Cornucopia and launch a surprise attack; with a knife I could easily slice her throat if I was careful.

_That's it_, I decided.

I walked around to the backside of the Cornucopia, remaining hidden in the bushes and trees as I did so. I made sure to remain silent as I walked. I didn't want Gypsy to get any idea I was there or the surprise attack part of the idea wouldn't work. I dug a hole under a bush to hide some of my stuff in. Just the sword and the bag with its original contents; I ended up taking both of the knives. I kept one holstered on my hip and held one in my left hand. With my right arm still hurt from the arrow wound, I was better off wielding and attack with my left.

With it drawn, I snuck up to the back of the Cornucopia and around the side. I couldn't see Gypsy from where I was, so I had to rely on my ears. She was continuing to whistle, so I could basically tell where she was with the sound of the dark and cheery tune. Suddenly the whistling stopped.

"Where is she?" I heard Gypsy mutter.

_She?_ I wondered.

'She' could mean Helena or possibly Aur. Helena didn't seem like the type to partner up with a single person, let alone with Gypsy. Maybe a group made from people she could benefit from, but not a single person. Aur seemed like the type of person to partner up with someone, especially someone who appeared to switch sides constantly like Gypsy seemed to do. Whomever Gypsy was talking about, I couldn't worry about them. I had to get this over with and hurry to get the food and get out. If I was caught by any of the Careers in my condition, I would be screwed.

I crept slowly up to the edge of the Cornucopia. As I listened carefully, I could tell Gypsy began to walk away. Her back was to me; perfect time to strike.

I jumped out from behind the Cornucopia and brandished my knife. Gypsy hadn't even had time to turn around before I stabbed my knife through her back. She went to scream, but I managed to cover her mouth with my hand just in time. I couldn't have her alerting anyone that I was there. As she slowly began to drop to the ground, I pulled out the bloody knife and slit her throat. I couldn't have her dying too soon, but it didn't look like she was about to. If the gong went off, my time would be shortened. She had been muted with having her throat slit, so I let go of her completely.

I grabbed a large bag and took a quick look inside. It was filled with food, mainly breads and fruits. Breads were great seeing how they were filling. Bread would expand in your stomach, which would often help with weight gain. Fruits were also nice due to the vitamins they had, and god knows I need all the vitamins I could get.

Not wanting to be greedy and picky. I grabbed that bag and an extra bag just in case and took off running. As soon as I got back to the bush I hidden my stuff under, the gong announcing death sounded.

_I guess Gypsy died_, I thought as I retrieved my stuff.

I hurriedly got away from the Cornucopia and only stopped when I thought I had found some place safe. I climbed up into a lofty tree and got myself settled. Not having eaten in a while, I didn't want to rush myself. Last thing I needed was to get sick due to stuffing myself. That's exactly how I want to be remembered, death by too much bread. I ended up starting out with a couple of fruit until the cramps went away. I was still somewhat hungry, but I decided to wait a little bit before eating anymore.

Suddenly the earth far beneath me began to shake. Only ever so faintly at first, but soon they turned to true quakes. It was an earthquake. I hastily held on to the tree for dear life, allowing my bags to fall to the ground. Better mushy food than a mushy body. With the quakes came rumbling; not from the ground itself, but from the mountains. They were from what I could only assume were rockslides.

_I guess it was good that I decided not to continue back up the mountain_, I thought.

Rockslides were dangerous. From my tree, I could see a minor one happening from the direction I had come down from the mountain. With the rocks and boulders that were rolling down the mountain, so was snow making it even more dangerous? If the rocks and boulders hadn't crushed you, the snow would burry you alive. It was like a really bad nightmare that would cost you your life.

The shaking slowly began to die back down and I quickly descended the tree. The tree I had picked was well-rooted into the ground and hadn't even shifted a little bit in the ground due to the earthquake. A few other trees around me had fallen to the ground. Thankfully I was safe.

As I collected my stuff from the ground, I heard another ominous sound; the gong. Seemingly someone had died during the earthquake, probably as a result of the landslide.

_I'm sorry to whoever died_, I thought.

It was a sad way to end someone's life, but at least they weren't tortured with a slow, painful death by murder. By the way it sounded, the gong having come right after the earthquake, it sounded like their death was rather quick.

That night I had ended up staying in the tree from before with the earthquake. It was sturdy, so if there was another earthquake I would be safe. One of the bags had had rope, which I used to tie myself to the branch I sat on. If I fell off from that height, I wouldn't die but be paralyzed, which is just as bad if not worse.

I watched the portraits of the day's fallen tributes. First was Gypsy, which I had already known about. I had been responsible for her death. The other tribute was the District Nine boy, Danny. From what I could speculate, he was hiding in the mountains when the landslide had happened. He must have been caught off-guard and killed by the disaster. I didn't know whether his death was caused by sheer accident or by the Gamemakers hands, but one could only assume it was the latter with the situation we were in.

I fell asleep that night with a fully stomach, the first time in a while. Even at home, I am never filled. I felt guilty for having to kill Gypsy, but I did what I had to do to survive.

* * *

**Six tributes remaining; Aur, Marcello, Helena, Calico, Dezji, and Silver. I present the final six! Only a few more chapter left until the end. Are you guys excited? I know I am.  
**

**Deaths in this Chapter**

***Gypsy - Killed by Calico; Placed 8th.**

***Danny - Killed by landslide; Placed 7th.**


	18. Act 17

_Act 17_  
_'Perception'_

* * *

It had been a couple of days since I had been struck by an arrow in my right arm. I had managed to take down Gypsy even with my wound, but still the pain was starting to catch up to me. Even after desperately trying to keep it clean, it was beginning to fester. I didn't whether that was because the wound was so deep, the water I was using wasn't entirely clean itself, or a little bit of both. Either way, my arm was starting to really hurt whenever I moved it. I couldn't put any pressure on it, so that meant I had to hide my bags in a safe place instead of being able to carry them around. I was also at a disadvantage with the sword, which required two hands to wield. I was stuck using a knife, which wouldn't be good against any bigger weapon, like a sword or an axe.

"What am I going to do?" I asked myself.

I had made the large tree from before my main sleeping area. I was able to hide the food I had gathered in its branches with the bags being hidden from anyone's line of sight below. I had also climbed it enough I was able to climb it with one arm in confidence.

I laid there in the arms of the tree, looking up at the simulated night sky. It was rather calming after the past few days I had. Being stabbed with an arrow and having a flaccid arm was just the start of the list of what was wrong with me. I had also killed two tributes in a callous manner. It wasn't like me to kill me… Then again I never really given a choice to kill people in normal life, so how do I know if I am truly not a killer or not?

As if to bring me back to my senses a small beeping noise protruded my thoughts. Scanning my surroundings, I found it not to be another tribute or an obstacle sent by the Gamemakers, but instead a parachuting container with a dim red flashing light and that emitted a faded beeping hum.

"What the-"

It had not only cut off my thoughts, but cut off my speech as well as the container fell right into my lap. I could only assume I was meant to open it, though it was a rather eerie feeling. You know that saying, "Don't press the big red button"? Well I give you a new phrase, "Don't open the flying, beeping container." Catchy.

I somehow succeeded to get the container open with one hand. Over the short time of just using my left arm, I had managed to obtain some muscles in my arm. It helped a lot, I admit. Inside the container were a circular compact and a note sitting atop it.

The note read…

_Calico,_

_Spread this on the wound on your arm. It should help with the pain. Use twice daily until you run out._

It wasn't signed, but I had a feeling that it was Weft. The note was hand-written in a bunch of scribbled letters that just seemed so… _Him_. I opened the compact he mentioned and found it containing a smelly blue cream. It had a rather oily appearance; not appealing at all. I really didn't want to put it on my skin in general, let alone my open wound. Still, I had gotten something from some sponsors and I wasn't going to ignore it. And it would help my arm, I would definitely take it.

The cream was cold on my arm. Not much else but that at first, though after a little bit after putting it on, the wound started to sting. I knew that stinging meant it was cleaning it out, but it hurt like a bitch. I had to bite my lower lip to the point of it bleeding to stop myself from screaming due to my arm.

As I did so, I heard a noise from aside. Looking down I realized I was right to hold back screams. I wasn't alone. Instead of being the occasional deer or squirrel I had started seeing after staying in the tree, it was a person. But of course it couldn't be the typical tribute, instead it was Helena. She was like a bad pimple, she wouldn't just go away.

She appeared to be looking for something. She stayed close to the ground, scanning the dirt for what I could only assume was a sign for whatever she was looking for. I wouldn't sound conceited saying that she was probably looking for me; me or Dezji, but probably me. I have constantly insulted her and destroyed her supplies. If I was her, I would probably hunt me too. But as if to prove me wrong, she appeared to find what she was looking for.

"You can come out now," she called out.

Some tree branches rattled and a tired-looking Marcello fell down from them, landing on the ground looking slightly disarrayed when he hit the ground.

_How did I miss him?!_ I thought to myself.

He had been in a nearby tree and I hadn't seen him climb up there. He hadn't made himself known to me or threatened me, but still it made me a tad uncomfortable thinking he was right there.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

"You're tracks," replied Helena. "You're incredibly messy when it comes to covering them up."

Marcello nodded, as if understanding what was going on. I sat there watching in silence as they continued to stare each other down. The hostility was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. I had thought them allies, but it appeared I was wrong. At that moment they looked more like mortal enemies. No one would think they had actually worked together once.

"So why?" asked Marcello, being the first to break the silence.

"'Why' what?" asked Helena back in a snide tone.

"Why are you tracking me down?" clarified Marcello. "I thought working together would at least allow me until the final few before I was forced to confront you. I thought we were allies."

Helena scoffed.

"I don't do 'allies'," she mocked. "I do strategy. You're useless to me now, so I'm getting rid of you."

"Useless?" parroted Marcello. "I still can beat you, so how useless am I?"

Marcello went to draw his sword, but Helena beat him to it. She placed her sword against his neck, ready to behead him at any moment.

"You're pathetic," sneered Helena. "You're weak, yet you act like a strong leader-type. But you're not. You're just some yappie mutt who likes to think of them self as the big dog."

Marcello just continued to stare Helena in the eyes as she taunted him.

"I'm not the pathetic one here," said Marcello, cutting Helena off. "You're the pathetic one."

"I'm pathetic, how so?" asked Helena, amused by Marcello's accusations.

"You try to act strong, but that is just the angst," explained Marcello. "You think distancing yourself from people makes you seem tough, but that is just your fear of attaching yourself to people. You are not afraid to throw people under that bus, people who even trusted you and followed you. If it means getting yourself ahead, you'll do it. You're a cold, callous bitch and that in itself is pathetic."

Helena was furious after hearing this. I don't know why Marcello suddenly said this, but he screwed himself. As fumes poured out of Helena's ears and she let loose a battle cry, she swung the sword and cut Marcello's head clean off. It rolled along the ground, ending its roll at the truck of the tree he jumped down from.

Helena shook her head, trying to calm herself back down as she wiped of her sword with part of Marcello's jacket. After placing it back in its sheath, Helena let out a long sigh. I don't know it Marcello's death had affected her, but I know his words had. It wasn't like they were lies either and she knew that.

"Keep moving ahead, Helena," she muttered to herself.

I had barely heard her as she began to walk away. She hadn't noticed me, much to my liking. If she had noticed me, with my wound, it would have been a problem. I don't know what I would have done, but in any case scenario, I would have lost.

From the looks of the situation, Helena had left the Career alliance. If she would just willingly kill Marcello like that, she definitely quit the alliance. Meaning I didn't have to worry about her and Aur teaming up. Both were amazing fighters and I wouldn't stand a chance against both of them. With them split, I might have had a chance to knock them down one-by-one.

* * *

**Like I said above, the poll isn't closed, but I will give you the stats as of this moment. Another Hunger Games fic has a 71% backing, while the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are tied at 14%. As the Hunger Games' percentage keeps rising (I think it was 66% last time), it looks like I am going in the way of a Hunger Games fanfiction after this one finishes. I already have an idea for it involving clones. What do you think?**

**QUESTION: Who do you think is going to die next?**

**Deaths in this Chapter:**

***Marcello - Placed 6th; Killed by Helena.**


	19. Act 18

_Act 18_  
_'Troy'_

* * *

It had been two days since Helena killing Marcello. She hadn't been back this way since then; not that I was complaining. It meant that I had time to help my arm heal up, though it wasn't wanting to. It definitely was clean. Puss had come out of the wound, which was the gunk that had been in originally. It was good that it came out, though the wound was still not starting to scab over. If it didn't scab, it wasn't likely to heal properly.

I worried as I looked as my wound.

_What if it doesn't heal? What will I do?_ I thought.

I had heard if a wound doesn't heal properly, there was a chance for the need to amputate. That would mean me having to lose my arm. The aspect of losing my arm scared me. Not only for the practical loses, I'm right handed, but because of the social stigma against crimples. They cannot work and thus shunned by a lot of people. Children are told to keep away from them and the adults send a lot of horrible looks towards them. They are treated like lepers. And while it isn't right to treat them like that, I have to admit that I have personally acted like such around them. I'm not proud of it, but I have. Maybe this injury was karma taking over for all the horrible things I have done.

_Need to change the topic_, I thought, shaking my head.

It had been two days and no deaths. Last time this had happened, five people had died and a landslide had occurred. I was hoping they didn't bring in another landslide or a different "natural disaster" to "liven things up". But then again if people didn't die, the Games would never be over and no one would win.

The day came and went. My wound hadn't gotten any better and no one had passed my tree. I had thought of getting down and trying my luck at hunting down another tribute, but my arm wasn't in any condition to fight. If I ran into one of the strong tributes, Helena or Silver, I wouldn't stand a chance. I was best not pushing my luck.

Night came quickly; quicker than I thought. I hadn't been paying attention to the time apparently. As I lied up in my tree and slowly drifted to sleep, the gong rang out.

"What the-" I shouted, cutting myself off.

After so long of not hearing it, the gong's ring startled me; almost causing me to fall of the tree. Thankfully I caught myself. I looked up towards the sky and almost gasped at the tribute whose portrait appeared in the hologram. It was Helena.

"She's… Dead…" I said.

* * *

_Earlier..._

Helena walked through the valley with a lack of confidence she had once had. After killing Marcello, his words had been chiming through her head. She wasn't sure what he had said that got to her. Maybe it was being call pathetic. Maybe it was because he noticed her apprehension towards people. Or Maybe it was because he had sounded just like her father. Any way she approached it, she couldn't get the words out of her head.

"Why is this happening?" she questioned herself aloud.

She had never had an issue with severing her ties with people. She didn't even have an issue with killing people. She had killed many tributes so far, one of them also being a Career, aside from Marcello. So why couldn't she just let go of Marcello?

"He's right," she said, finishing the sentence in her thoughts. _I am pathetic._

"Who's right?"

The voice came from behind her. Upon turning around she was greeted with the sight of a brunette male smiling at her. His jacket was black, indicating he was the final tribute from District 12. Helena hadn't bothered to remember his name. Not that it mattered. She kept a hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword.

"Looks like you're not one to talk," he said, shrugging. "You look like you're ready for action."

He was a little calmer than Helena, though she couldn't understand why. There was only four left and in had been ten days since they entered. Anyone would start to become stressed. Even she was becoming stressed. Instead he seemed increasingly confident with every moment that passed.

"Look," he said. "You are obviously troubled, so why don't you just admit defeat. You have killed so many, so you cannot think you are going to just live. You deserve to die."

Helena knew she deserved to die, but she couldn't. She had a reason she had to continue her fight.

"I will not die!" she shouted, beginning to pull out her sword.

Before she had fully drawn her sword however, a solid silver arrow pierced her heart. It had turned out it came from Silver. In the dark Helena hadn't noticed the bow he had been carrying with him or the quiver strapped to his back. The arrow had quickly gone through her and was now sticking out of the center of her chest. She fell to the ground, gasping as she coughed up blood. Silver walked over, staring down at her as she died.

"I just wanted my mom to be safe and proud of me," she said between gasps.

"We all want our parents to be proud of us," said Silver.

He took out the arrow from her heart, blood following behind the head of the arrow, and positioned it to hover over her head. Without a single word, he jammed the arrow into the side of her head, killing her instantly.

"Sheesh," he scoffed, standing up.

He wiped the bloody arrow on his pant leg and looked around.

"Well, which direction next?" he asked himself.

* * *

**Less than a 1,000 words, but I will make up with it by updating twice. This chapter was the well-anticipated death of Helena. I hated her, but I love her. Her love for her mom and her style of playing the Game was something I appreciated about her. I could actually see me being that ruthless sometimes when imagining myself in the Games. I short, I related with her. It's sad, but true.**

**Deaths in this Chapter:**

***Helena: Placed 5th; Killed by Silver. **


	20. Act 19

**I published two chapters this time, so be sure to read Act 18 'Troy' before.**

**Josh Hutcherson, aka Peeta, was on Face-Off on Syfy. Check it out!**

* * *

_Act 19_  
_'The Girl With Golden Hair'_

* * *

Helena was dead and had left only one Career behind; Aur. I was ecstatic to hear Helena was dead, sad as that was. I don't care how cruel it sounded, she was a horrible person and I was glad she was gone and out of my life. With her gone, all that was left besides me was Dezji, Silver, and Aur.

Aur had a determined spirit. It was something that I could appreciate in someone, if they weren't also a sociopath. Aur was psychotic, a true insane being, who didn't care who she hurt. In fact, she seemed to get a high when hurting people; an even bigger one when ending someone's life. She was a dangerous opponent that had to be taken care of quickly.

I didn't know about Silver. The fact I hadn't seen him this entire game made me worried. I could only base my opinion of him on the interview and that small interaction I had during the Bloodbath. During the interview he had a passionate debate with Lucida. He hadn't seemed bad, just overly zealous. But when he had shouted at me to run during the Bloodbath, he seemed incredibly strong. He had managed to get to the Cornucopia, passed the Careers, and still managed to come out with supplies. I don't even know what he had grabbed, so that isn't good. He was dangerous just because of my lack of knowledge on him.

And with this few of people left, I don't know if I could even trust Dezji. I'm sure he would want to win to and for that to happen, I would have to die. It is at this time when alliances are broken and everyone is on their own. I had kind of wished that if I had made it to the finals, it would with people I could easily take out. I know it is only to be expected that they would be strong if they were in the finals, in fact I don't even know why I am here, but still…

One thing for certain, I felt a bit safer walking around with Helena gone.

I ended up walking back to the Cornucopia. It feels like most would return to the center. I know there wouldn't anything there really. Whoever had teamed up with Gypsy had probably taken the rest of the supplies I had left, but it nevertheless felt almost obligatory. I left most of my supplies hidden up in the large tree, only keeping a handful of food in my knapsack with some weapons. My arm was still a hindrance, so I only took the smaller weapons. A sword might be a knife, but it is not when the arm wielding it can't even swing it

"_ATTENTION!~_"

A loud, almost automated voice rang out over the arena through some hidden speakers. It had startled me, causing to jump. Despite me being stunned by the sudden noise, I tried to calm my racing heart and continue to listen.

"_We, the Gamemakers, have come to decide to hold a feast!~_"

A feast? I didn't know what that meant, but if the Gamemakers had created it, it couldn't be good.

"_Everyone is need of something, whether it be food, medicine, or something else altogether! We have supplied each district still around with something they may need!~_"

_So that's what a "feast" is_, I thought.

It seemed to me just a ploy to get the rest of the tributes together by luring them to the same area. The Games were probably getting too slow for the Capital and they need to get some action going. It was definitely a good plan.

"_The feast will be held at the Cornucopia! You do not need to come, but can you risk it?~_"

I felt like the Gamemaker that was making the announcement was trying to hold back maniacal laughter. This plan was just to evil for them not to be laughing.

I was already heading toward the Cornucopia to begin with and it would be stupid to turn back now. I was also curious to see what was in the District Eight bag and I might be able to take a tribute or two that was lured thee with promises of supplies down. It was too good of an opportunity to turn down, even if it was just a gambit.

Because I had already been walking there, it didn't take me long before I reached the Cornucopia. Not much of a surprise, but there was a large, rectangular block set up in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia. It was being used as a table to display three bags; one for each of the districts. There was one golden, one purple, and one pure black; each matched our jacket colours.

"Are you going to go get it?"

Upon recognizing the voice, I turned around to see Dezji.

"Or do you have a plan?" he asked.

I was half-excited to see Dezji and half-scared. He had become like a friend during training and the Games, but we had split up on bad terms and he was soon to become my opponent that was if he wasn't already. Either way, I couldn't help smiling while looking at him.

"Good to see you have survived this long," he said. "But still a bit of a surprise."

"I can say the same thing to you," I said. He just smiled. "And yes, I have a plan."

I explained my idea of waiting so to jump the other two tributes. Even if Silver wasn't, Aur would be desperate to get whatever she so dreadfully needed. If we were to wait, she would be easy pickens; what with her bum hand and all. Dezji nodded along with my plan, though remained silent a little bit after I had stopped.

"I'll help," he said. "But once it comes down to it, you and I will be enemies."

I understood that. I knew that in the end only one person could come out of the arena alive. It was a sad fact that we were in a death match, but it was how it was. I was just happy that Dezji hadn't written me off as an enemy just quite yet.

"What happened to your arm?" he questioned upon finally seeing my wound.

"I was attacked by one of Aur's arrows," I said. "I have some cream that is supposed to help, but it is only doing so much. I think it is just so infected that the cream can only do so much."

Dezji looked like he was about to say something, but paused. I followed his line of sight through the trees, landing on a small, feminine figure approaching the table. It was Aur. She looked nervous as she came up on the bags. She probably was going to try to take all the bags so no one else could get their supplies. That just so seemed like her. I pulled out my slingshot and took aim the back of Aur's head.

"Once I hit her get ready to attack from the side," I instructed.

He nodded. The plan was for me to act as the decoy as Dezji worked as the main force. I aimed and with one quick flick of the wrist, let go, sending the sharp pebble flying at Aur. It hit her head with such force that she was actually stunned.

"Ah!" she screamed.

The jagged pebble had caught her just right with the right amount of speed that it had caused a small cut to the back of her head. I could see blood running down her blood hair. She held her hand against the wound and looked around, trying to figure out where the rock came from. I guess she determined it came from my direction, even though she hadn't seen me, as she began to race over towards my direction. But just as she closed in, Dezji attacked her from the side. With a simple knife, he jumped down onto her with such force. The knife got her arm as she toppled down onto the ground.

"That's for Calico," he said.

I came out of hiding upon hearing my name. Dezji didn't notice, instead continued to beat Aur. He grabbed ahold of her hair and kneed her in the face.

"That's for Gavin," he continued.

She grabbed the wrist of the hand he was holding her hair with. With his other hand, which brandished the knife, he stabbed her injured hand. She ended up letting out a cry similar to the howl of a suffering animal. It gave me a weird, malicious feeling of satisfaction watching her in pain.

"And this is for Douglas," he finished.

With one mighty swoop, he sliced her throat. The slice wasn't the deep, but after being thrown about and pretty much destroyed by Dezji, it was the finally act. Aur didn't move as she bleed out. She only looked up at Dezji and me. A smirk spread across her face, as if she was seeing something hysterical. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She just laid their motionless.

"She's dead," Dezji said after nudging her body with his foot.

"About damn time," I said.

Dezji chuckled and wiped off his knife. A gong sounded announcing the death of Aur. Dezji grabbed the District Eight bag and District Two bag.

"Make it seem like we had come and gone in case Silver shows up," he explained. "Let's get back into position."

"That won't be needed," said an ominous voice.

Before either Dezji or I had time to react, I saw a shimmering silver point grow from Dezji's abdomen. IT was a weird sight at first, for both of us. But as a red stain started to grow around it, both of us soon came to realize the horrible truth. It was the tip of a knife that had stabbed Dezji in the back.

* * *

**Up this is where I leave you. The Games end next chapter. I was planning on having three more chapters before ending it, but I felt like I was dragging it out. There will be three more chapters, so instead of 24 chapters/acts altogether, there will be only 22.**

**Deaths in this Chapter:**

***Aur – Placed 4th; Killed by Dezji.**

(Technically Dezji isn't dead yet.)


	21. Act 20

_Act 20_  
_'Losing a Brother; Silver and Gold'_

* * *

Dezji fell forward, landing on top of me with all his weight. I ended up falling back onto my butt with Dezji resting on top of me. He had just been stabbed in the back by the only person left; Silver. Dezji was gasping for air as he continued to choke on blood. I didn't know what to do. Instead I just looked up at Silver. He was grinning ever-so-slightly as he stood there menacingly. A shiver ran up my spine as I made eye contact with him. He was unarmed, but that didn't matter. He had muscles, which I lacked. He had confidence, which I lacked. And those two things combined where just enough to make him the most intimidating one here.

And if I didn't move quickly, he was bound to get me. I rolled Dezji off of me carefully enough that he didn't get even more hurt.

_I'm sorry,_ I thought looking at Dezji.

I couldn't stay by Dezji's side as he died. If I did, I would die too. Dezji seemed to realize this as he looked up at me. He sent me a strained smile lined in coughed up blood. He was crying. I had never thought I would see Dezji cry, but there he was struggling a smile and crying. He gave me a small nodded and began to slowly stand up. He struggled to get his footing, but managed to somehow stand up.

"Dammit," muttered Silver.

He seemed a bit pissed that Dezji was still able to stand, but he quickly regained his composer.

"Still alive I see," spoke Silver.

"Calico! Run!" commanded Dezji. "I'm already screwed."

He sent me a sideways glare. But from just that, I knew I wasn't going to be able to argue with him. I also knew that he was about to do something stupid.

"Just promise me you will take care of Lilleth," he added.

I froze. Dezji had clearly given up. If we took out Silver and he killed me, Dezji could have probably still lived with the help of Capital technology. The Capital wouldn't want to be without a victor. But there he was, giving me instructions like he believed I was going to win. I still had to deal with Silver to win.

"Run!" Dezji shouted again.

I gave up and broke out in a run towards my gear. I turned back once to catch a glimpse of Dezji and Silver. Dezji still had the knife sticking out of his back, but he didn't move to remove it. If he did, he would surely bleed out in a matter of seconds. But with it in, it only meant pain surging through his back; especially with him moving about like he was. I managed to get back to my bag of stuff and pull out my slingshot that I had put back after shooting Aur. I also grabbed my knife that I dropped when seeing Dezji beat Aur into submission.

"You going to fight her battles for her?" asked Silver. "You're already dying. You cannot do much. Besides, she needs to fight this herself or she won't earn the title of victor properly."

Silver was correct. Dezji was too injured to do anything. We all knew this, but it didn't seem to affect Dezji. Instead he just sent a snarl aimed right at Silver. I went to rush back to Dezji's aid, but he extended a hand to motion me to stop. I did as ordered and paused, frozen in time, as I watched Silver circled Dezji, like a wild dog does with its prey.

Knowing what was about to happen, I closed my eyes, sealing them shut. Still, my anxiety didn't stop me from reluctantly peaking through my clenched eyes and watching the scene unfold. Once Silver was located behind Dezji, he lunged; aiming for the knife in his back. If he got that, Silver would easily win the fight before it even started. Dezji seemed to realize that and quickly wiped around. The knife in his hand rushed forwards and glided across Silver face, gouging out his right eye.

I remember seeing people from the factories with missing limbs, facial features, and everything else due to factory fires, machines malfunctions, and other things. When I was a kid I had wondered how some of them survived. One who had her entire left side of her face burned and lost her eyes said that it depends on what was lost. If one gets stabbed in the eye, it won't cause enough blood to be lost in order to die. Thus you can survive getting stabbed in the eye; which was a god's send for Silver, though a problem to.

Silver now was unable to see through his messed up eye, though that didn't stop him from pouncing onto Dezji. Dezji fell backwards at this attack, landing on the knife. It dug into him even deeper now as he let out a high-pitch scream in agony. I went to run to his side, but something stopped me. I hadn't wanted to hear it, but I did and it had caused me to be paralyzed with fear. The sound of the gong. The sound of life leaving a person's body. Dezji was dead.

"No," I muttered.

"Dick," muttered Silver.

He got up and pulled the knife Dezji had from his shoulder. When Silver pounced on him, Dezji must have had stabbed Silver. It had got his right shoulder. I had a bum arm and so one would think this might even things out, but that was not the case. Silver's injury didn't seem to be doing me any favours, instead seemed to irk him even more. He still was able to use his arm and as for the eye, that didn't hinder him.

"I am not going to lose," he said, approaching me.

I couldn't win against him in a hands-on match. I was too weak. If I could have gotten to Aur, I could possibly use the bow to injury him enough to use a knife to finish him off, even with my damaged arm. But Silver stood between me and Aur's dead body. I only had my slingshot and a knife. There wasn't much I could do, but I was desperate. Silver was slowly approaching me, anger slowly escalating inside of him. It showed. Maybe it was out of desperation or just sheer insanity, but I dropped my knife and picked up a nearby pebble. I managed to get one with a sharp angle on one side, perfect for a projectile. I took quick aim and launched it at Silver. He had shifted to the side, expect it to go passed him, but I wasn't aiming at where he thought. He assumed I would be aiming at his forehead or his good eye, anywhere I could possibly do harm to him where he wasn't already harmed. But I instead aimed for one of his injuries, hoping to cause enough pain; his gouged out eye.

He fell to the ground, screaming in pain as he tried to get out the lodged in stone from his socket. I didn't really want to look at the real-life gore there in front of me, but this was my chance. I rushed forward, grabbing my knife from the ground as I did, and jumped onto the shrieking Silver. He didn't have any chance to counter, instead could only let it happen. I jabbed my knife into the side of his neck and ripped it forward. If the scene wasn't gory enough, I just made it more; ten-fold. I didn't care. This was the someone who had killed Dezji. I hadn't known Dezji long, only through Lilleth, but from what she had told me and from what I had witnessed, he was a good person. And now he was gone. He didn't deserve that and I was pissed off.

"That's for Dezji," I said with an awful sneer.

A gong sounded announcing Silver's death. It was over. The anthem played, announcing the Games as over. I had won. I had made it.

* * *

**I am updating twice today.**

**Deaths in this Chapter:**

***Dezji - Placed 3rd; Killed by Silver.**

***Silver - Placed 2nd; Killed by Calico.**


	22. Act 21

**Two chapters today. Make sure to read **_**Act 20: Losing a Brother; Silver and Gold**_** before this one!**

* * *

_Act 21_  
_'Home'_

* * *

I had somehow managed to win the Hunger Games. This scrawny girl from District Eight; I for one was defiantly surprised. I know a lot of people were. I had managed to secure three kills, four if you consider Douglas. That was much more than I was thought to ever get. And now I had won. I had overcome the odds stacked against me, like the 23 past victors before me. Now I could return home.

The trip back to my district was a quite one. Weft comforted me for a little bit, but soon withdrew to his own quarters to mourn in his own way. Woof was nowhere to be seen, though that was to be expected. He was considerably close to Dezji, being his mentor and everything. Even Gaius seemed to be mourning in his own special way, which meant stuffing his face with a bunch of sweets.

Once back in my district, I was dressed up nicely before being presented in front of my district as victor of the 24th Hunger Games. My arm was bandaged, but would retrieve special medical attention later. I expected the worst when it came to it because of how badly it had been aching as of late. Everyone cheered for me, happy that their district would retrieve the spoils that having a victor would bring. It pissed me off, they were so focused on having stuff they weren't upset by the deaths they had just witnessed yesterday. Not that I should be that angry, as I would have acted the same way in their shoes.

After waving a bit, I was allowed to meet up with my mom back at our apartment. This would be the last time I would ever step in that building as we were soon to be moved to the Victors' Village. On the steps of the building I saw Pill. No matter who I dealt with in the arena, that man still scared me.

"Looks like our little Calico actually had some guts," he said, chuckling when seeing me. "I didn't expect you to get so far. I betted on that District Two girl beating you into submission, but Baize here was betting on you."

Pill gestured to the burly man standing beside me. Baize was a rather unattractive man, though his looks were common in the city. Rather sad really. Still didn't make him any more attractive. Baize smirked at me, giving me a creepy stare. It took everything I had not to shiver under his gaze. I just sneered and ignored them as I passed them up the steps.

"Looks like being a victor has made her too good for us," said Pill.

I wanted to agree that, yes I was too good for them. I was had always been too good for them. But I wouldn't be able to hold off their attacks if they got mad. Fighting was illegal in the Districts, but that didn't stop people like Pill and his gang from doing it. He had even paid off a few Peacekeepers to look the other way so he could get away with it. Me being a victor wouldn't matter in that situation; I would still wind up hurt. Instead I just kept my mouth shut and walked into the building.

In the apartment was my mom. She was actually looking a bit better. You could tell she was still doing drugs, but she didn't look like she was doing as much. Her face was still sunken in, but that spark behind her eyes, that spark she had before the drugs, had come back. She rushed up to me and threw herself into a hug. She was stronger than you would expect, but that only made me happier. I replied with an even stronger hug. A noise from the kitchen threw me off guard. Out came Lilleth, holding a frying pan with some eggs.

"I was making lunch," she said.

It had turned out after I was hit with the arrow, Lilleth had come over to make sure my mom was okay. The little girl was almost in tears upon finding her doing drugs. Lilleth insisted on helping out my mom. And when Lilleth watched Dezji die, my mom had helped her emotionally. It appeared that my mom needed this to come back to life.

"You are going to live with us at the Village," I told Lilleth over eggs.

"But…" she went to object, but paused. "But A-Bees."

A-Bees; their aunt that had taken care of them. Lilleth had told me about this woman, how she cared for Dezji and her after their parents had gone.

"She can come along," I said.

The houses in the Victor's Village were already too big for two people, even for three. The more the merrier, right? Besides, I had promised Dezji I would take care of Lilleth and if it meant including their aunt, I was going to do just that.

It turned out my arm was far too infected to save. I ended up having my arm amputated at the shoulder. It was a scary thing at first, but I soon came to accept it. I wouldn't need to work now that I had won the Hunger Games, so I didn't have to worry about this hindering my work at the factory. Also a lot of people in District Eight had lost limbs and had turned out fine. I had helpful advice from them all around me. Anyways, I had my mom and Lilleth and A-Bees, or Aunt Bees as she was called to her face, with me.

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**Nope, not that long. I just wanted a flash at what Calico got once she was home. I updated twice today. Make sure to read Act 20 if you haven't. One chapter left and it is bound to be a big one.**


	23. Act 22

_Act 22_  
_'Epilogue'_

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After my return home, I set out on a Victory Tour, where I toured around Panem. It was set up half-way between the previous Games and the next Games, as if to keep the horror of them fresh in the minds of the people of the nation. It worked, though mostly I saw bitterness in the eyes of the people I saw. Not bitterness aimed directly towards me, though I'm sure they did send some of it towards me. No most of it was directed at the Capital and the Games. Accompanying me on the tour was Iridis, Woof, Weft, and Gaius. They were supposed to help me behind the scenes, but in front of everyone, on the stage and during interviews, I was on my own.

First up was District 12, like always. The Victory Tours always started with District 12 and then whittled their way down to District One and finally to the Capital. The home district of the victor, in my case District Eight, would always be saved for last. Not that I could complain; at least seeing the faces of my mom and Lilleth would calm me down enough after dealing with 11 other districts and the Capital.

District 12 was about as musky as District Eight, though in its own way. Instead of towering cities with a layer of smog sent from the factories, District 12 was just a bunch of hobbles covered in a layer of soot from the coal mines. Coal was all I knew about District 12. The Capital tried to keep knowledge of the other districts to a minimum. All I knew was their main export was Coal and that they were poor, but the latter only from watching previous tributes from past Games.

As I stood up on the stage, I did see the families and friends of the district's tributes; Calla and Silver. Calla's family was bare to say the least; only a mother and father, and both a sickly looking as could be. I could only imagine how they mourned at their daughter's death. They didn't seem to be blaming me, instead just continued to mourn the loss of their daughter. The people around them didn't add much support. Aside from the occasional back pat, the other residents of District 12 ignored their cries. It truly wasn't much different than District Eight.

Silver's family consisted of only three people. A short woman that gave off the air only a mother did. What probably held a cheery smile was now sullen with the fact her son had died. One either side of her stood two boys, each rubbing her back as she looked up onto me. The one who stood to her right made eye contact with me. He looked a lot like Silver in a way. They both had the same build, same height, and same features, save for this boys black hair compared to Silver's sandy brown.

The other boy I recognized, though only from the cameras of previous Victory Tours. His sister, a girl I had long forgotten the name of, had been a tribute from a few Games back. She had died early on and her death was forgettable. Silver really was one tribute from District 12 to have gotten so far, as of yet. Still, I remembered this boy from the cameras zooming in on his young, terrified face. He had lost a sister then and now a surrogate brother. This boy was sending me all his hatred, like I had personally destroyed his family once again. I did, somewhat, this time. But the one to truly blame was the Capital. I knew I wouldn't be able to tell him this and that I truly regretted killing Silver.

After District 12 came District 11; Nova and Gavin's home district. It really tore me up remembering Gavin. I knew it wasn't proper for a victor to get this emotional over a fallen tribute from another district, but while in the train, I couldn't help but tear up as District 11 came into view. It didn't matter anyway, Iridis did my make-up so well, that it was impossible to make-out the red blotches I had acquired from crying.

Both of the tributes had mentioned their families before. Gavin had grown up in a strictly female house, while Nova grew up in the opposite, primarily male dominated.

I easily came to recognize Nova's family, as they looked just like her. The pitch black hair and dark tanned skin made them a dead rigger of their sister and daughter… Their lost family member. I hadn't gotten along with Nova during training, but even I didn't want to see her die they way she did. I remember Nova mentioning her father's name as Cliff or something and her brothers' as Ash and Mica.

Beside them stood Gavin's family, as if they were brought together by shared grief. I recognized them from Gavin's descriptions of them. He had, before he was murdered, told me about them in great length. It seemed to calm him, so I let him. There was his mom, a great woman named Scarlet. Her attitude apparently had a connection to her name as she was known to be quite the fiery one. She may have been fierce, but Gavin described her as loving as any good mother. Beside her stood who I assumed to be his aunt, Sienna. She was apparently strict, but Gavin described her so fondly I didn't have that bad of an image in my head. One either side of them stood who I assumed to be Gavin's sisters. His older sisters helped comfort their family and even Nova's family. I believed their names to be Mahogany and Amber; though I wasn't entirely sure. The only one that just stood there; not moving to help supply comfort or to cry or even glare at me like Silver's younger adopted brother did. She was Gavin's younger sister, Mary. Gavin apparently was the closest with her, having described her as the most caring and nurturing person in the district. In a way Mary reminded me of Lilleth. She was apparently kind to everyone and would want to help anyone she could. She stood there staring at me and I swore I caught her mouthing the words, _'Thank-you'_. I shot a smile back. It looked like a general smile, but I intentionally aimed it at her. She seemed to get it and smiled back.

The following day came District Ten, Nine, and Seven. Two packed into a day was already harsh enough, but three was pushing it. Still, they probably wanted to speed things up so we could get to the Capital and then I could finally go home.

District Ten was where Gypsy and Dal were from. I only got the handful of pitiful stares here, though they were mixed mostly with cold, icy glares. I had killed one of their tributes just like that. Gypsy's family included only a mother and father. Unlike Calla's parents, these two seemed stronger. They still mourned for their daughter, but didn't seem to find it appropriate to show their mourning in public. The father was a large, burly man typical, from what I could see, of those who worked labor jobs in this District. He held onto a soft cow plush rather tightly as he refused to look up at me. Her mom just clung to her husband's arm as she too refused to look up. I could only guess that they didn't want to look at me in fear they may do something they don't want to, whether it was cry or do something a little more reprehensible.

Dal's family stood close by. They at least were looking up at me, though sorrow filled their eyes. I didn't blame them; as I could only assume they would much rather see their son up here instead of myself. Aside from his two common looking parents, he also had two brothers, much older looking then his teenage self, and a younger sister. I couldn't tell if they were mad at me or not, but I couldn't dwell on it. If I did, I would end up getting so wretched over it, it wouldn't be healthy.

District Nine was a refreshing stretch of land filled with grain fields. District 11 was known for their agriculture, but that involved also orchards. I felt slightly claustrophobic trapped in there. It was a different type of cramped compared to the city, one I wasn't used to. I hadn't liked it. District Ten was known for their livestock. They had open fields, but they tended to be filled to the brim with cows and goats and horses and even bison. But District Nine's grain fields were different. They weren't occupied by animals or stacked tall like orchards. It helped free me off much of the tension that accumulated over just the last day.

I saw Elena's family first. It was her twin sister that gave them away. She had the exact same look as Elena, that one of passion. She held something in her hand, refusing to let it move a smidge while standing. How it must have been hard for them to watch their daughter and sister die first in the Games. I don't know if they truly thought she would win, but I bet they were hoping for to last a little bit longer then she had. A sad fact washed over me. Elena's sister was still eligible for the next Games and the Games after that. There was still a chance they wouldn't lose just one daughter, but both.

I also saw Danny's family. I didn't really remember him in the Games. He wasn't an enemy of mine, so I hadn't taken notice of him like I did with Helena or Aur or Marcello. He had been killed by a rockslide, so really he was the only tribute without a memorable death too. His family, a mother, father, and sister, stood their weeping. They didn't appear to care who saw them. I had secret admiration for their bravery in doing this.

We skip my district and head straight for District Seven. And with this, I was back surrounded by trees. I knew District Seven was known for its trees and supplying wood through the act of lumberjacking, but it was still annoying for me.

Amira's family came in view first. I hadn't known her all too well, just like I barely knew Danny. I saw only half of her family. I knew from the interviews that she had an average family of three, but during the tour I only saw two of them. Her mother stood there, not showing any emotions. She looked like she had been preparing for this. I recognized her struggling to handle the emotions that bore down on her from the inside as she gripped her arms, which were crossed in front of her chest. With the mom was a girl who looked exactly like Amira. I had never seen twins in my life and just that day I had met two sets. First Elena and her twin and now Amira and her twin. Her father was nowhere to be seen. But seeing how the Tour, along with everything else revolving around the Hunger Games, was mandatory, he was bound to be there. He was likely in the back of the crowd or watching a screen somewhere where he wouldn't be seen crying.

Next I saw Douglas' family. They were smiling at me. I don't know why, as I killed their son. But all six of them were giving me a saddened, half smile. I could only return the smile partially. It took me a little bit, but I figured it out. They saw my killing of Douglas as not murder but a mercy killing. I guess it was, but it was hard for me not to think that I hard killed him.

The day came to an end and I was soon force to relive it. This time I was dealing with Districts Six, Five, and Four.

District Six wasn't very memorial, at least not as much as it should have been. I thought I was going to be overwhelmed more so with the transportation district then I had with any district up 'til now, but no. The tributes, Anastasia and Othello, didn't seem to have much support from their district either. When the other tribute had had their names spoken, their districts would cheer, or at least clap. Most remained silent at the mere mention of Anastasia or Othello's name unless instructed to clap. But they never did it out of their own free will. I didn't see their families either, though I could only guess why. I wouldn't want to stand in a lifeless crowd as everyone judged my now-dead child. Both of them had died on day one, thus weren't very memorable either.

District Five was a little bit better. It just reminded me too much of home though. It was built of cities, though brighter and shinier. I even got to see the dam that powered most, some, of Panem. I saw Wyatt's family, though it really wasn't much of a "family" as compared to others. It was a single member, a mom. She was standing there with her head held high, trying to keep strong for the cameras undoubtedly pointed at her. I could now sort of relate to Wyatt, even if he and I never talked. The single mom-thing helped me wretch my heart for his death. I had to wonder, while looking at her, if my mom would be the same way if I had died and someone else had won. Or would she have gone back to her drugs and died also; her with a needle stuck in the crevice of her arm.

Seraphina's family was almost hard to miss, but I had finally managed to find them. Only a father and a brother had waited for her. It was saddening to see all the smaller families. I guess they had a lot more to lose when it came to the Games. At least with more family members, there are more people to help comfort. And in a crueler way of thinking, that means fewer mouths to feed. But with smaller families, it felt like a bigger loss. They were already small, but now their numbers had dwindled and that person that took up a significant space in their household was now gone.

District Four was a dock-based district. Everything seemed to either revolve around docks and boats or pounds. Still it was fishing. Not much else to be expected from the fishing district. I tried to forget about Delphine, even trying to ignore her family's stares. I hadn't liked her and I didn't want to show that in front of everyone. I had tried to find Coriander's family, but couldn't seem to locate them. There were a lot of people, just like the rest of the districts, so I knew I couldn't find everyone.

The next day I finished up with the last three districts. District Three wasn't what I had imagined. Being an upper number district, I had always wondered why they didn't produce careers. It finally came to me when I laid my eyes on it. Despite being snuggled up in between Career Districts, they themselves produced weaklings. It was just another city, like District Eight. I even got to smell the familiar burning smog coming from their factories. It had singed my nose hairs a bit, but I quickly got used to it. It just reminded me of the smell of home. I hadn't been gone long, but I still missed it.

I was right about Claria's family. They screamed wealthy, at least by district standards. Sure, they didn't have the Capital aura about them, but they definitely had more standing then many others. Two parents who didn't look like they had stopped working had accompanied a smaller, maybe six-year old, seven year-old at best, boy. They all looked so intelligent and Octavian's parents did too. What caught me was how much Octavian's dad looked like him, just with more wrinkles and taller.

District Two was one I had been dreading. It was obvious Helena and I did not get along. It would be an understatement to say we were anything but enemies. I even hated her now that she was dead and that hatred only raised as I looked upon her home district. It was much nicer than many of the previous districts I had visited, yet she acted like she hated her home so much.

As I stood up on stage and zoned out, much like I had did every other time, I scoured the crowd of Helena's parents. She made them sound so horrible, at least her dad. I wanted to know why. I finally found them, under the attention of the cameras. Even with the cameras on them, her dad seemed to give off an abusive air. He wasn't trying to hide it for the cameras or the rest of Panem, which surprised me. I could automatically see why Helena hated him. I even started to feel sorry for her before I remembered all she had done during the Games. Still I watched for a while as Helena's father gripped ahold of the back of her mom's neck. I had seen this in a lot of abusive relationships. It was a way of the abuser to control the victim. And it was completely legal.

Marcello's family was a bit harder to find. To my surprise I find them cheering with the rest of the crowd. They seem excited about me being the victor, even though it means that their son was dead. I didn't understand District Two and I don't think I ever will. They were so dedicated to the Games and the Capital.

District One finally came. I had finally lost focus after visiting ten other districts. I was so bored, I just wanted to go home. I did manage to catch a hold of Aur's parents sending me death glares from the audience. I couldn't blame them; I helped with the killing of their daughter. Any true parent should be miffed at the person who caused this. Paris' family wasn't anywhere to be found, but that was all just as well. I hadn't really remembered him over the Games and no one else seemed to either, expect for one thing. It wasn't something you wanted to be remembered for though; the Career that died during the Bloodbath. It was a pretty bad title if I do say so myself.

After the day had finally came to an end, I was allowed to sleep in for the first time in a couple of days. After having such long days, it was nice to rest. Still the following day I had to deal with the Capital. If I was just zoning out during the district tours, I had completely left the planet when it came to the banquet. People asking to take pictures with me. Food being shoved into me. I was just like a puppet. Even the interview didn't seem to happen. I mean, I probably answered the questions asked of me, but I don't remember them. I ended up finally coming to when I reached my home district.

There to welcome me was my family and neighbors and so many more. I had singled out my mom, Lilleth, and A-Bees waiting for me. Pill and his gang were there too, smirking, though I couldn't care any less. I was just happy to be home and see my extended family there waiting for me.

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**Finally finished. What do you think?**

**The new story is up; **_**History**_**. If you have submitted to this story and want to submit to **_**History**_**, you can, but be sure to submit an entirely new character. I don't want any character, whether accepted or not, I have seen before. **


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